SALT LAKE CITY?As sexual abuse allegations surface against Catholic priests nationwide, Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley denounced child abuse among members of his faith.

“It is a most despicable and tragic and terrible thing,” Hinckley said at the faith’s 172nd semiannual General Conference.

Hinckley saved his sharply worded address for Saturday evening’s men-only Priesthood Meeting. He acknowledged child sex abuse within his own church and condemned “the sordid and evil abuse of children by adults.”

The Mormon church faces several lawsuits involving allegations of abuse by church elders or abuse not reported by those in positions of authority.