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Pope Benedict XVI will address Ireland in a letter apologizing for the sex abuse scandal here, a message being watched closely by Catholics from Boston to Berlin to see if it also acknowledges decades of Vatican-approved cover-ups.

The church is only beginning to come to terms with decades of child abuse in its parishes and schools. The scandals first emerged in Canada and Australia in the 1980s, followed by Ireland in the 1990s, the United States this decade and, in recent months, Benedict''s German homeland.

Victims'' rights activists say that to begin mending the church''s battered image, Benedict''s message Saturday -his first pastoral letter on child abuse in the church- must break his silence on the role of the Catholic hierarchy in shielding pedophile clergy from prosecution.