Bishop Patrick Walsh told mourners at the funeral of Ms Jean McConville that her murder in 1972 "touched the depths of depravity".
He pleaded "in the name of humanity" for more information to be provided so that others of the disappeared killed by the IRA could be returned to their families for burial.
At the start of the ceremony, relatives of the disappeared brought ten lighted candles to the altar of St Paul's Church off the Falls Road in Belfast. The bodies of about 10 victims of the Troubles are still missing and the McConvilles also availed of Saturday's funeral to plead for assistance in tracing their remains.
The Bishop of Down and Connor emphasised that appeal: "I make a fervent and heartfelt plea to anyone who can help with information: in God's name, in the name of humanity, give that information and give peace of mind to other distraught families," he said at the funeral Mass on Saturday.
Bishop Walsh recalled that 1972, when Jean McConville was murdered, was a "year of carnage of horrific proportions" when 496 people were killed - "496 families left to mourn".
"Among those families, each of whom is not a statistic, was the McConville family. Already mourning their father's natural death at the beginning of the year, now as the year drew to its close, mourning their mother's death," he continued.
"A death cruel in its execution and cruel in its consequences for a large and now orphaned family, a cruelty which was compounded by the burial of their mother in an unmarked grave. Every aspect of the murder was inhuman, it touched the depths of depravity.
"You, Jean's family, have waited as a family for over 30 years for this day, waited wounded and scarred with grieving and restless hearts," added Bishop Walsh.
He said there were many nonetheless who supported the family, just as the McConvilles now supported those families still waiting and hoping for the return of their missing loves ones "buried in unmarked graves".
And remembering how Ms McConville comforted a British soldier shot by the IRA near her home, Bishop Walsh said: "Each one of us as true followers of Christ must be bearers of Christ's love and comfort as Jean McConville was for a dying soldier on that fateful December night in 1972. May the love of Christ now enfold her for ever and enfold all those whom she loved."
Msgr Thomas Toner told the congregation that while the life and death of "our mothers have profound influence on all of us, the death of Jean had more influence than most". He compared her death to the actions of the Nazis.
"In the history of our Troubles there can be no more despicable act than the abduction, murder and casual disposal of the body of Jean McConville and the subsequent plight of her ten children. It is our most shameful example of the moral corruption and degradation that violence generates in the human spirit," he added.
"It not only devastated the lives of her children but it dehumanised her murderers and stripped them of all dignity and respect. While the desecration of graves may be one of the vilest symptoms of our sick society it pales into insignificance before the desecration of human bodies," he added.
"Jean McConville and the other disappeared will forever stand in judgment on the shame and guilt of their murderers," said Msgr Toner.
Nine of Jean McConville's children are alive - her daughter Ann is deceased. To the nine children - Robert, Archie, Helen, Agnes, Mickey, Tucker, Susie, Billy and Jim - Msgr Toner said: "It is our prayers that the recovery of your mother's body 30 years after she was murdered, and laying her to rest with your father, will bring you great healing, individually and as a family. You will now have your sacred place, your place of pilgrimage. And that is our prayer for all the disappeared."
