(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 16 - The issue of child abuse in the Catholic Church was back in the spotlight on Tuesday, as senior clerics sought to deal with the fallout of recent weeks. In separate remarks, two high-ranking Vatican figures discussed the impact of the scandals and pledged to prevent a recurrence of abuse, while the Irish Catholic Church issued a statement defending a top cardinal's actions in handling past allegations. The Holy See's Permanent Observer at the United Nations, Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, said abuse by Catholic priests was "a grave betrayal of trust", which Pope Benedict XVI viewed as an "odious crime".

The pope has "unequivocally condemned sexual violence of children and young people" and views it as "a grave sin that offends God and human dignity", said Tomasi.

The archbishop said there was "no excuse" for past abuse but insisted that rooting out and preventing abuse remained "an absolute priority" for the Church. "Anyone guilty of such crimes is immediately suspended from his duties and is punished in accordance both with civil and canon law," said Tomasi, who made his remarks during a speech last week, the text of which was only released by the Vatican on Tuesday. "In some cases large sums of compensation have been necessary, while in others, the guilty have ended up in jail," he said. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone discussed the impact of the abuse scandals on the church at a meeting with Italian industrialists association Confindustria. "Trust in the Church institutions has dropped sharply," admitted the cardinal.

He said the Church was doing its best to regain this confidence through "a high sense of morality".

Meanwhile, the Irish Church issued a statement "clarifying" the role Cardinal Sean Brady played in dealing with a serial abuser, Father Brendan Smyth, in 1975. Brady, a priest and teacher at the time, was involved in meetings where two boys of 10 and 14 were asked to sign oaths of secrecy over the allegations.

The statement explained that Brady took notes at one meeting but conducted the interview alone in the other case. According to the statement, the confidentiality vows were requested "to avoid potential collusion in the gathering of the inquiry's evidence" and to ensure the process was "robust enough to withstand challenge by the perpetrator, Fr Brendan Smyth".

Brady, who held a relatively junior role at the time, did not pass the information on to the police but did pass it on to his superior, who withdrew Smyth's right to practice as a priest. According to the statement, Brady's findings were then transmitted to the head of Smyth's religious order who failed to take appropriate action, resulting in more children being abused. Brady has defended his actions, saying he did everything possible given his junior position at the time. Four Irish bishops have already tendered their resignations in the wake of a November report, which found they failed to report some 300 cases of child sex abuse to the police from the 1960s to the 1980s.

In mid-February, the pope held an unprecedented emergency meeting with 24 Irish bishops in order to discuss the report, during which he described child abuse as a "heinous crime". He also promised to issue a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics discussing the Church's future in that country. However, several fresh scandals have broken since then.

Germany has been particularly hard hit, with 19 of the country's 27 dioceses dealing with allegations, but new allegations have surfaced across Europe. Dozens of victims have spoken out in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Poland in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi also confirmed the church was dealing with a case in Brazil. "Contrary to media reports, none of the three people involved was a bishop," he said.

"A 'monsignor' is already being tried in criminal proceedings by the civil authorities. "The other two individuals, a 'monsignor' and a priest, have been suspended from the ecclesiastical duties and are at the centre of a canonical inquiry into suspected paedophilia, although both have denied all charges so far".