Holy Father talks about the effect of sexual abuse scandals on Catholic church

Pope Francis has addressed the effect of

According to Punch, the Holy Father did on the last day of a four-day trip to the three Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

Speaking to young people at a Lutheran church in Tallinn, the Pontiff noted that the youth no longer has faith in the church as a result of the many cases of clergy sex abuse and financial scandals.

In his words, "Some of them expressly ask us to leave them alone, because they feel the Church's presence as bothersome or even irritating.

"They are outraged by sexual and economic scandals that do not meet with clear condemnation, by our unpreparedness to really appreciate the lives and sensibilities of the young.

"When we adults refuse to acknowledge some evident reality, you tell us frankly: 'Can't you see this?' Some of you who are a bit more forthright might even say to us: 'Don't you see that nobody is listening to you anymore, or believes what you have to say?'"

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Pope Francis concluded by acknowledging the need for a change in the Church.

"We have to realize that in order to stand by your side we need to change many situations that, in the end, put you off," he said.

Sex abuse in the Catholic church

The pope's statement is in response to the ongoing worldwide scandal that has hit the church.

Recently, a new report discovered that 1,670 priests, which is 4.4 percent of the Catholic clergy in Germany, have sexually abused 3,677 people between 1946 and 2014.