Dublin, Ireland - Decades of sexual abuse of children by 21 Roman Catholic priests in an Irish diocese were covered up by the church and state authorities, according to a hard-hitting government report.
Retired supreme court judge Frank Murphy said his inquiry had identified 100 complaints dating back as far as 1966.
The revelations in recent years about abuse and the repeated rape of some children in the diocese of Ferns in the south-east of Ireland has shocked the country.
"The inquiry wishes to record its revulsion at the extent, severity and duration of the child abuse allegedly perpetrated by priests acting under the aegis of Ferns," Murphy reports.
He said children had suffered "grave psychological damage" and it was noteworthy that only two of the cases it had investigated had resulted in a criminal investigation.
On behalf of the government, Minister for Children Brian Lenihan said he "condemned in the strongest possible terms the repeated failure and gross dereliction of duties of those in positions of trust" in Ferns.
"It is clear from the report that effective action was not taken to protect vulnerable children over a period of many years," Lenihan said.
The 270 page report says "a culture of secrecy and a fear of causing scandal informed at least some of the responses that have been identified.
"By failing to properly identify the problem of child abuse even to colleagues and professionals, bishops placed the interests of the church ahead of children whose protection and safety should at all times have been a priority."
The report is strongly critical, not only of the church authorities, but also of police.
Before 1990, Murphy found there appeared to have been a reluctance by individual policemen to properly investigate cases of abuse that came to their attention.
No record of complaints of abuse to police between the 1970s and the 1980s could be found.
The inquiry was set up following the resignation in 2002 of the Bishop of Ferns, Brendan Comiskey, after a TV documentary investigating the sandal.
The report represents a watershed in mainly Catholic Ireland as it is the first time the state has investigated the affairs of the once powerful church or any aspect of how it is run.
The Dublin archdiocese, the biggest in the country, is also facing a state investigation about how it handled allegations of abuse by priests.