The Catholic Church in England and Wales failed to show "sufficient compassion" in the past for children abused by its priests, the Archbishop of Westminster has said.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has faced widespread criticism over his handling of paedophile priests, centring on his decision in 1985 - when he was Bishop of Arundel and Brighton - to move Father Michael Hill to the chaplaincy at Gatwick airport even though he knew he was a paedophile.
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Last month, Hill was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to further sex offences.
Interviewed on BBC 2's Newsnightprogramme last night, the Cardinal again acknowledged he made a "grave" mistake in his handling of the Hill case. But he rejected calls for his resignation, arguing he had put in reforms to ensure the church deals with the abuse issue.
Asked whether the church had been more concerned with preserving its reputation than showing compassion for victims, the Cardinal said: "I think I would agree that we haven't had in the past sufficient compassion for those who've been abused".
He argued it was largely as a result of a failure to understand the problem.
"I never took an allegation of child abuse uncarefully and, if you say did I in one or two cases make mistakes, yes I did because in fact the guidelines weren't there and the kind of recommendations that now come up in Nolan weren't in place.
"So to that extent, yes, I think I was perhaps naive, perhaps ignorant," the cardinal said.
Lord Nolan issued a report, commissioned by the cardinal, early last year on guidelines for handling allegations of abuse. PA