A major Catholic organization with branches in the U.S. has written to Pope Benedict XV! demanding he remove Irish bishops caught in the current sex abuse scandal.

Four bishops were named in the latest scandal involving the Dublin archdiocese. All allegedly covered up pedophile priests in their jurisdiction.

The Voice of the Faithful is hoping to rally Irish American support behind the move to have the Bishops removed.The Voice of the Faithful has also called on Pope Benedict to order a nationwide inquiry in Ireland into pedophile priests

In the letter, the group claims "accountability cannot be achieved while so many bishops and archbishops, who have knowingly over a considerable period of time permitted this tragedy to persist, continue in office".

The Voice of the Faithful letter warns Benedict that "repeating the tragedy of Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Ferns, Cloyne, Sydney and so many other dioceses worldwide, four archbishops of Ireland's most populous diocese have behaved in a manner that facilitated the deepest psychological, emotional and spiritual trauma to many children.

"They have also endangered gravely the divine mission of the church, as well as the souls once more repelled from it. The time to act is now. The secrecy must come to an end. We are convinced that this programme cannot be speedily achieved in Ireland or elsewhere without the deployment of the full authority of your own office."

Sean O'Conaill, Voice of the Faithful's acting co-ordinator in Ireland told The Observer newspaper that if the pope ignored their calls, "we will be forced to a conclusion that will be fatal to Catholicism globally: that the papacy also puts the Catholic clerical institution before the interests of children.

"To deny that change is now necessary in the way the church governs itself is to condemn other children of the church to the same trauma and to condemn the rest of the church to endless derision and scandal.

"Catholicism cannot survive this. To argue that God supports the present church system is to argue God approves of child abuse – and that is blasphemy."

Voice of the Faithful originally came out of grew out of the abuse scandal in Boston that forced to the sacking of Cardinal Bernard Law, the head of the church in Massachusetts.