MOST Irish people believe that Pope Francis failed to adequately address the clerical abuse scandal during his recent papal visit, according to a new report.

The pontiff made his first papal visit to Ireland in August for the World Meeting of Families, with his two-day trip seen as an opportunity for the Church to atone for decades of clerical abuse and cover-ups.

However, just 30 per cent of Irish people believe that the Pope did enough to address clerical abuse.

Research conducted by Queen’s University Belfast found that practising Catholics were more optimistic in their views, with 50 per cent claiming the Pope had satisfactorily addressed the issue.

Research Fellow Dr Gladys Ganiel said: “Francis’ visit to Ireland has revealed a lot about how people in Ireland think about the Catholic Church.

“Even a pope as popular as Francis cannot distract from the widespread dismay about the way that the Church has handled clerical sexual abuse.”

Some 840 respondents took part in the survey, with 64 per cent identifying themselves as Catholic.

The findings also showed that 31 per cent agreed the visit had been “a healing time for victims and survivors of clerical sex abuse” whilst 23 per cent agreed the visit had been “a healing time for LGBTQI people and their families”.

Dr Ganiel continued: “At the same time, this survey shows clear evidence that Francis’ pontificate has had a positive impact on a significant minority of people’s perceptions of the Catholic Church, both since his visit to Ireland and since he became Pope in 2013.”

The results also showed that it was “indifference” rather than “anger” that stopped people from taking part in activities during the Papal Visit.

Dr Ganiel added: “For all the respondents except practising Catholics, indifference seems to have trumped anger about abuse as a reason for not attending – although abuse is still the next most significant factor.”