In a traditional ceremony honoring 44 new archbishops from around the world on the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of human weakness in a Church of sinners confronted with "the destructive power of evil."

According to TheJournal.ie, the pontiff said the papacy “constitutes the foundation of the Church during its pilgrimage through history (but) on the other hand, across the centuries, human weakness is also evident, which can only be transformed through openness to God’s action."

“The Church is not a community of the perfect, but a community of sinners, obliged to recognise their need for God’s love, their need to be purified through the Cross of Jesus Christ,” he added.

The Vatican has had to battle a succession of scandals, including several cases of child abuse by clerics. Now, reports TheJournal.ie, it is reportedly locked in an internal power struggle with whistleblowers publishing secret documents in an alleged bid to oust top official Tarcisio Bertone.