Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, deputy head of the Vatican, has spoken of the abuse of children by priests in Ireland as a 'humiliating challenge'.

The announcement comes as Pope Benedict XVI prepares to meet Irish bishops in Rome, on Tuesday and Wednesday, to discuss the publication last year of a report from the Irish Minister of Justice on the abuse of children by priests and other Roman Catholic clergymen between 1975 and 2004. According to the report, the abuse was knowingly kept secret by the church.

Mr Bertone said that that the scandal may not only lead to young people losing their trust in the Roman Catholic church, but even to the Irish losing their faith in God.