Pope Benedict XVI will meet with leaders of Ireland's Roman Catholic church on Friday to discuss child abuse by Irish priests.

The Vatican says the pope will meet the head of Ireland's Bishop's Conference, Cardinal Sean Brady and the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. According to the Vatican, the church leaders will discuss and evaluate the "painful situation of the Church in Ireland, " in the wake of last month's publication of the Murphy Commission report.

After a three-year investigation, Judge Yvonne Murphy released a damning report on child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. The report concluded that four archbishops routinely covered up abuse by priests and failed to inform police of the crimes.

The report also stated that Ireland's Roman Catholic Church covered up sex abuse by priests for more than 30 years. One priest admitted to abusing more than 100 children and another priest abused one child every two weeks for 25 years. The Murphy report is the latest in a series of reports on child sex abuse by Catholic priests across the globe.