The Pope today claimed around 2 per cent of clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles according to reliable data.

Pope Francis said that abuse of children was like “leprosy” inflicting the church and that the estimation - which would represent around 8,000 priests out of global number of about 414,000 - came from advisers.

He vowed to “confront it with the severity it demands” and said he believed “solutions” existed to problems posed by the prohibition on priests marrying, in an interview with the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.

“Among the 2% who are paedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals,” said Pope Francis.

“Others, more numerous, know but keep quiet. They punish without giving the reason. I find this state of affairs intolerable.”

The news comes a year after the Pope strengthened the Vatican’s laws against child abuse.

Earlier this year the pontiff, 77, begged forgiveness from the victims of sexual abuse by priests at his first meeting with them since his election.

Many survivors of abuse by priests are angry at what they see as the Vatican’s failure to punish senior officials who have been accused of covering up scandals.

When asked about the celibacy rule for priests, Pope Francis recalled that it was adopted 900 years after the death of Jesus Christ and pointed out that the Eastern Catholic Church allows its priests to marry.

He added: “The problem certainly exists but it is not on a large scale. It will need time but the solutions are there and I will find them.”

The number of incidents of paedophilia in the general population is not accurately known but some estimates say it is less than five percent.