Abuse victims in Northern Ireland last night criticised the Pope’s response to decades of clerical child sex abuse as “too late” — saying no official apology could repair all the hurt and pain suffered at the hands of clergy.

Yesterday Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin met the Pope in Rome to discuss the fallout from the scathing report which found there had been a systematic cover-up of claims by those at the top of the Irish Catholic Church hierarchy.

The report, by Irish Judge Yvonne Murphy, was also highly critical of the Vatican.

Margaret McGuckin, who suffered eight years of physical abuse at Nazareth House girls' home in south Belfast, said she thought the Pope should have addressed the issues years ago and believes the Catholic Church was suffering a crisis of faith.

She said in order for people to believe once again in the institution, it needed to clear out those responsible for harbouring paedophile priests and child abusers.

“The only thing I think should have happened long ago was for all of the bishops to have resigned and for the Church to essentially start again because nobody has faith in the Catholic Church anymore,” she said.

“As for the statement, it’s all a bit too late, isn’t it? He has been quiet for so long, not saying anything. I think he should have spoken up before this.”

Following the meeting in Rome, the Vatican issued a statement on behalf of the Pope which said he shared the “outrage, betrayal and shame” felt by Irish people over the cover-up of clerical child abuse. Ms McGuckin, who has been campaigning for an inquiry into clerical child abuse to be held in Northern Ireland, said she hoped victims here would receive their answer soon.

“It would be the best Christmas present ever for somebody to come out and say ‘right, we are going to deal with it now’, and to hear it just so we can get a bit of peace,” she added.