The Catholic church says they are searching for a "cure" ahead of a four day meeting about sexual abuse.

The conference, which begins this Thursday, will focus on how the church should tackle sexual abuse and ensure that senior bishops are entirely aware of its effect on victims. The meeting's moderator, Fr Federico Lombardi, said that the church needs to get to "the root of the problem." "I am absolutely convinced that our credibility in this area is at stake," he said. "We have to get to the root of this problem and show our ability to undergo a cure as a Church that proposes to be a teacher or it would be better for us to get into another line of work." Global News reports that many have criticised the church for taking so long to address the issue in a formal manner. Anne Barrett-Doyle of abuse tracking group 'Bishops Accountability' said that the church must admit that the extent of abuse is "disgraceful." “The fact that this still exists in 2019, that there is still awareness-raising that has to be done is a measure of what a low priority this has truly been for the Vatican,” she said. “I hope he has the candour to admit that it’s absolutely disgraceful that that’s where we are today." This comes just over a week after Pope Francis admitted that some nuns had been forced into "sexual slavery" within the church. The pontiff acknowledged the sexual abuse of nuns by the clergy for the first time saying that the issue is one that the the Catholic Church are "working on." He also admitted that the abuse is "still going on." The theme of this week's meeting is "prevention of abuse of minors and vulnerable adults." It begins on Thursday.