Speaking at an event in Westminster, the Archbishop of Canterbury explained that the Church has renewed efforts to ensure that no allegations are ignored or covered up
According to The Guardian, Most Rev Justin Welby said: "We will systematically bring those transparently and openly first of all working with the survivors where they are still alive and then seeing what they want.
"The rule is survivors come first, not our own interests, and however important the person was, however distinguished, however well-known, survivors come first."
Just last week the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, expressed his "deep shame" over the Church's failure to protect children from a former Dean of Manchester who was accused of abuse.
As part of an inquiry into that case, the Archbishop said he had met and apologised to some of those who had been abused.
Archbishop Justin also says he regularly listens to abuse survivors.
At the Westminster event, he said: "It is beyond description - terrible. I had a meeting with some survivors a few weeks ago and was giving a talk later that afternoon, somewhere else and on a completely different subject, but someone asked, it was a theological colleague, about issues of safeguarding, and to my intense surprise - and I don't normally do this sort of thing - I broke down completely.
"It was the shredding effect of hearing what we did - what we did - to those people and the sense of total failure and betrayal."
He went on to confirm that every diocese in the country is now looking for evidence that could potentially lead to an abuse case.