Fr Hans Zollner is president of the Centre for Child Protection at Rome's Gregorian University and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

He wrote in response after the survivors contacted him following the damning report into the Catholic Church.

The report was produced by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

In his letter, Zollner recognised the suffering and distress that victims and survivors of sexual abuse in England and Wales had endured.

He admitted that there is much work still to be done on safeguarding and is urging a change in the way victims and survivors are treated.

"Without voices like yours being at the centre of this process we will never be able to reach the changes and the conversion necessary for the recent reforms undertaken to take root and bring about real change," Zollner wrote.

He also urged the survivors to keep in touch with him.

The survivors recently wrote an open letter to the bishops of England and Wales.

They urged a change in the way victims are treated.

The group have received lengthy letters from the Archbishops of Southwark and Liverpool, and Fr Christopher Thomas, General Secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. Many other bishops from around the country also penned letters.

The bishops and others who wrote referred to the shame they felt at reading the IICSA report. They emphasised the need to heal wounds and meet and listen to survivors.

Bishop Mark O'Toole of Plymouth wrote that listening to survivors' stories broke his heart.

He said: "Such pain, however, is nothing compared to the agony and torment that you and other victims and survivors of abuse have suffered. Your voices, and those of other victims and survivors, need to be heard consistently not as a matter of the past, but in to help all of us face the reality of abuse."

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, also apologised to victims and survivors of abuse inflicted over 50 years in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Cardinal Nichols was heavily criticised in IICSA's final report on the Roman Catholic Church.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Church Times

The guidelines, Pastoral Standards and Safe Practices in the Conduct of Ministry, sent to every bishop, secular and religious priest and deacon, set out how to guard against abuse and recognise it when it occurs.

"Our Lord declares that one of the gravest sins is to cause one of his ‘little ones' to stumble, to cause them to lose faith. The sexual abuse of a child or an adult at risk constitutes this gravest of sins," the document states.

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The Inquiry, set up in 2014, is investigating whether prominent figures in the establishment attempted to interfere in the criminal justice process. Victims have accused the Church of England of covering up the bishop's crimes which stretched over 30 years.

In a voluntarily-provided written statement to the Inquiry, Charles explained why he kept in touch with Peter Ball for more than two decades after Ball was cautioned for gross indecency in 1993.

Ball resigned after the caution, but told the Prince the caution was a result of someone with a grudge 'persecuting' him.

Charles's statement says he gave Ball 'small gifts and money as I do for many people in need.'

He explained he remained friends with Ball because he did not understand the Police caution relating to Ball's gross indecency was an admission of guilt. He thought Ball had only been caught in an "indiscretion."

His statement says he was in contact with Ball for more than 20 years until he was convicted in 2015 for further sexual abuse offences.

The statement, which will be formally published this week, says Charles has 'deep personal regret' that Ball, who was finally jailed for 32 months in October 2015, had deceived him.

Ball, who is now 86, was released in February last year after serving half his jail sentence.

He often spoke of his links with the Royal family and was invited to give communion at the Prince's home in Highgrove.

He also spoke at the funeral for the Duchess of Cornwall's father Bruce Shand in 2006 and lived on Duchy of Cornwall land from 1997 to 2011.

Source

• Time
• Daily Mail
• Independent
• The Guardian
• Image: The Sun