The Vatican broke its silence on Thursday about a Pennsylvania grand jury report that detailed decades of sexual abuses by priests and cover-ups by bishops, calling the accusations "criminal and morally reprehensible."

"Regarding the report made public in Pennsylvania this week, there are two words that can express the feelings faced with these horrible crimes: shame and sorrow," said Greg Burke, director of the Vatican's Press Office.

"The Holy See treats with great seriousness the work of the Investigating Grand Jury of Pennsylvania and the lengthy Interim Report it has produced. The Holy See condemns unequivocally the sexual abuse of minors."

This week, Pope Francis had been under increasing pressure to address a rapidly escalating sexual abuse crisis that has spread across several continents, from Australia to Latin America.

The crisis presents a crucial test for Francis' papacy, which has stumbled badly at times to address sexual abuse among clergy. Some Catholics are worried that the Pope's ability to serve as a moral witness for the world could be compromised should he fail to act decisively.

"The clock is ticking for all of us in Church leadership," said Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, the Pope's top adviser on sexual abuse. "Catholics have lost patience with us and civil society has lost confidence in us."

In a vivid symbol of how the crisis is engulfing church leaders, O'Malley himself has had to cancel a trip to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families, a large papal event to be held in Ireland next week, to deal with a sexual misconduct investigation in his archdiocese's own seminary.

The Vatican's comments came 48 hours after the Pennsylvania report was released. The Pope himself has yet to remark on the accusations in the nearly 900-page report.

In the United States, liberal and conservative Catholics displayed a rare unity in pressing the Pope to respond to the Pennsylvania grand jury report. The state's Attorney General called it the "largest, most comprehensive report into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church ever produced in the United States."

The report said internal documents from six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania -- some held in a secret archive to which only the bishop had a key -- show that more than 300 "predator priests" have been credibly accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 child victims.

The lengthy catalog of clergy sexual abuses in the report is difficult to read. As the grand jurors note, priests and other Catholic leaders victimized boys and girls, teens and pre-pubescent children.

Some victims were plied with alcohol and groped or molested, the report says. Others were orally, vaginally or anally raped, according to the grand jurors.

"There are so many things the church speaks about that are politically sensitive topics," said Kurt Martens, a professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America. "When we do not adequately address an issue as serious as sexual abuse, it undermines the credibility of church leaders." (CNN)

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