<span style="color: #222222;">Pope Francis today met with eight Irish abuse victims after expressing pain and shame over the failure of Catholic Church authorities to deal with the abuses.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> In a statement, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Pope Francis met today evening for an hour and a half with eight survivors of clerical, religious and institutional abuse. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The eight included a victim of Catholic priest Tony Walsh, who abused hundreds of children over a period of nearly two decades before he was finally cast out of the priesthood and imprisoned. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">On the first papal visit to Ireland in almost four decades, Pope Francis said in a speech at a state event that was also attended by some abuse survivors that it was to the Church's shame it had not addressed these crimes and he said he was signalling a greater commitment to eliminating this scourge.</span><br />