VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has told followers in St. Peter's Square that the theft of documents from the Vatican was a "crime" but pledged that he would continue reforms.

It was the first time the pope directly commented on two books published last week based on leaked documents, which detailed how greedy Vatican prelates are resisting his efforts to reform Holy See finances and administration.

The pope said Sunday that "this sad fact will certainly not distract me from the reform work."

He called stealing the documents "a crime" and said that publishing them was "a deplorable act that doesn't help." He underlined the documents were the result of a reform course that he instituted and that measures had already been taken to address the problems which had started to show results.