The Vatican has said it
will issue guidelines on how to combat sexual abuse, which will be
circulated to bishops around the world.
Work was being done for "guidelines to offer for a coordinated and efficient programme" against abuse, the Vatican said.
Pope Benedict has been taking part in a rare, closed-door meeting of about 150 cardinals from around the world.
There has been a wave of cases in which Church authorities in
Europe, Australia and North and South America failed to deal properly
with priests accused of child abuse, sometimes just moving them to new
parishes where more children were put at risk.
Cardinal William Levada, who led Friday's discussion at the
Vatican, spoke of the need to listen to victims, to work together with
law enforcement and to make a careful selection of future priests.
But the US-based abuse victims group, Survivors' Network of
those Abused by Priests (Snap), said it was disappointed by the meeting,
saying the Church should stop making "symbolic gestures".
"We didn't have high hopes for
this meeting because these church officials are the same men who ignored
and concealed," Snap said in a statement.
The group also called on the Church to release files on the abuses and those who covered up for the crimes.
Some cardinals have criticised the attention given to the sex abuse scandal.
"I'm tired of talking about this topic," Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan told reporters after the talks.
"I've had it up to here... It's a real media storm."
This is the third consistory - or assembly of cardinals - since Pope Benedict was elected Pope in April 2005.
All 179 living cardinals would only be expected to gather for
a conclave - the meeting following the death or abdication of a pope to
elect his successor.
But Pope Benedict has attempted to create more opportunities
for the cardinals to discuss important issues, especially as those under
80 - 121 after Saturday's consistory - would be tasked with choosing
his successor.
The event has been described by analysts as a pre-conclave,
enabling the cardinals to see who could potentially succeed the German
Pope.
SIC: BBC/UK