These three strong words were used by the Vatican on December 11, 2009 to describe the reaction of the Pope at the stories of abuse revealed in the Irish Commission of Investigation's Report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

Vile men and women abused so many children. Those churchmen and women who were in a position of authority but failed to stop the abuse but let it be perpetuated are guilty of abusing the children for a second time.

The following heart rending piece was written by a Maltese person who suffered abuse at the hands of consecrated persons but has the strength and courage to love the Church.

The story of an abused person

"When I read in the media about the stories of sexual abuse in the Church and the elaborate cover-ups that ensued, my blood boils and runs cold at the same time for I am part of an exclusive group that actually knows what this means... In these news reports we sometimes read of incredulous believers who rally around the perpetrator offering quotes about this person's good works and character. We read how the ground has shifted beneath their feet and I realise time and again that these believers suddenly have to face up to their sense of safety in the world and belief in the Church that we had to struggle with as children and young people.

"I will not tell you the details of what we suffered as by doing so I feel that I would only be violating myself. The touching of our vulnerable bodies was vile and the thought of it sometimes makes me want to throw up, but what has left some of us still reluctant to forgive years later was the simultaneous battering on our budding personalities. At a time in life when we were beginning to sort out who we are and who we would like to become as young people and adults, these defining and appalling events added vulnerability, self-blame, shame, a deep and lasting wariness of relationships, and a loss of confidence in whatever strengths we already possessed. It is this aspect of the abuse that consciously or unconsciously has impacted on all our interactions with others, our worldview, and our perception of the Church.

"When some of us finally spoke up the speed with which the authorities closed ranks around us was breathtaking. We were spat out of communal life, out of every act of worship, denied the Sacraments, and generally ostracized from any social interaction with our peers lest we contaminate them with our subversive behaviour. There are no criminal charges to be brought for these spiritual and emotional assaults but in spite of all the darkness some of us still found a glimmer of light in the core of our souls that no one could touch. Even at that young age, some of us knew that that light that would not be extinguished was God who they said would desert us for our betrayal.

"To those who plead with us that we must all forgive and forget, please understand. Each one of us in our own way, have spent the rest of our lives piecing it together, hoping to move on, always weighing those two options: to forgive and to forget. For some of our peers, suicide, substance abuse, or violence ended the struggle early. For those of us left behind, survivor's guilt is thrown into this lethal mix.

"In varying degrees, those of us who have survived by the skin of our teeth have begun to heal. Some of us have reclaimed dreams, others have formed families, went back to school, went to work, acquiring self-esteem in the process and some of us have even sought solace in religious practice. But we cannot get away from the effects of the betrayals that were committed against us in God's name. Nearly for all of us, the greater betrayal is not the abuse but the cover-up and the subsequent treatment meted out by the authorities in whose care we had been entrusted, branded as liars and troublemakers. All this is inescapably woven into the texture of who we have become. For many of us, not being believed was an even greater betrayal. Of course, this is not a chargeable offence in any court of law but there is no statute of limitation on its impact and because of this, there should be no forgetting.

"In spite of everything and dare I say it, because of all this, I love the Church. I have always done so, and I feel so sad when these horrible things are still being perpetrated by her own people on her own vulnerable people. If we love her we must denounce those elements within her that distort her beauty into an anachronistic and self-serving monarchy. Certainly this is not what Jesus Christ willed for her.

Those who ONLY hold to the institutional Church as their source of emotional security cry about anti-Catholicism, media sensationalism, and an exaggeration of an aberration of an errant few. Such responses inflict even more pain on the many whose lives have been violated. If we really love the Church, we must admit to these elements within her and demand that the perpetrators, including the authorities who colluded in the cover-ups, be held to account.

Who said that love doesn't hurt?"

In the name of God: Zero tolerance. No omerta!

The Church in Malta in 1999 published its statement of policy and guidelines in cases of sexual abuse. A commission was set up to review such allegations. I was informed by the Communications Office of the Curia that since 2005 the commission received 48 alleged cases, two thirds of which concerned minors. Thirty percent of the cases presented since 2005 are still pending, though some are still pending because the allegation made was not substantiated.

On February 22, 2008 I wrote in this blog that:

"But unfortunately the Commission set up - known as the Response Team - did not always execute its duties with the level of efficiency and alacrity that a reasonable person would expect of if. It is said that "justice delayed is justice denied." The snail pace of the Response Team meant that there were several cases of justice denied. Several were the victims of these delays especially the victims of abuse and those persons wrongly accused."

I stand by what I wrote.

I also wrote that the setting up of a second commission was being considered. A few days ago, I was informed that one year and 10 months later "a second commission is being formed." I am sure that this long period of gestation of the commission was not for want of trying and I augur that it will be set up.

I had also written that:

"There is no place in any commission or team for anyone who dragged his feet in the past independently of other virtues that he or she has."

To-day my stand for what I wrote is stronger that it was when I wrote it.