London, Feb 20 (IANS): Two prominent Roman Catholic Church cardinals have called for an end to the "plague of the homosexual agenda", urging bishops to end their complicity and silence over cases of sexual abuse.

In an open letter on Wednesday, Cardinals Raymond Burke from the US and Walter Brandmüller from Germany reject that the cases of abuse were a result of "clericalism" - a group of men abusing their power and protecting each other, the BBC reported.

"The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the Church, promoted by organised networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence," they said.

(From L to R): Cardinal Raymond Burke, Walter Brandmüller

"Sexual abuse is blamed on clericalism. But the first and primary fault of the clergy does not rest in the abuse of power but in having gone away from the truth of the Gospel.

"The even public denial, by words and by acts, of the divine and natural law, is at the root of the evil that corrupts certain circles in the Church."

They also criticised Pope Francis for not answering questions related to whether the Church should allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion from which they are currently barred.

The development comes on the eve of an extraordinary summit of bishops in Rome to discuss the cases.

It has been called by the Pope as an effort to deal with the sex scandals rocking the Church.

The summit will be attended by the heads of all national bishops' conferences from more than 130 countries.