By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VALLETTA, Malta (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI met with eight victims of priestly sex abuse in Malta and promised them the Church would do “all in its power” to bring offenders to justice and protect children.

A group of youths hold up posters of Pope Benedict XVI with the saying, “Have courage,” before he arrives for a outdoor Mass in Floriana, Malta, April 18. CNS PHOTO/DARRIN ZAMMIT LUPI/REUTERS

The pope was “deeply moved by their stories and expressed his shame and sorrow over what victims and their families have suffered,” a Vatican statement said after the private encounter April 18.

“He prayed with them and assured them that the Church is doing, and will continue to do, all in its power to investigate allegations, to bring to justice those responsible for abuse and to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people in the future,” the statement said.

“In the spirit of his recent letter to the Catholics of Ireland, he prayed that all the victims of abuse would experience healing and reconciliation, enabling them to move forward with renewed hope,” it said.

The meeting at the apostolic nunciature in Rabat came after a group of victims had asked to meet with the pope to tell him of their ordeal and ask for an apology. The encounter was not part of the pope’s official itinerary and was only announced publicly by the Vatican after it had happened.

Participants said the victims cried as they told their stories, and that the pope had tears in his eyes as he listened.

“We now have peace in our hearts, even because the pope found time to meet us. We now look forward to the end of the court case, and closure of this chapter,” one unidentified victims told the Times of Malta.

The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, told journalists that the private meeting in the chapel of the nunciature lasted about 20 minutes. He said the pope, Archbishop Paul Cremona of Malta, Bishop Mario Grech of Gozo and eight male victims of abuse began the encounter kneeling in silent prayer.

The pope then stood by the altar and met with each victim one by one to hear his story and to speak with each privately, Father Lombardi said. The victims were in their 30s and 40s, Father Lombardi said.

At the end of the meeting, participants said a prayer together in Maltese and the pope blessed the victims. One victim said the pope gave each of them a rosary and promised them they would be in his prayers.

One of the victims, Lawrence Grech, told the Maltese paper that the two bishops with them shed tears during their meeting. Another said the pope had tears in his eyes.

“I admire the pope for his courage in meeting us. He was embarrassed by the failings of others,” said Grech.

Grech, one of the victims who had asked for the papal meeting, has said he and others were abused as boys by four priests at the St. Joseph Orphanage in Santa Venera.

The meeting came after the pope returned from a public Mass to the nunciature, where he has been staying during his April 17-18 pilgrimage to Malta. Archbishop Cremona had met April 13 with a group of victims, including Grech, at their request. That meeting, which lasted two and a half hours, was “a great help” to the victims, Grech told reporters. Grech said Archbishop Cremona listened carefully to each victim.

Grech said his only wish was that the meeting with Archbishop Cremona had happened earlier. Grech has been critical of the length of time it has taken his case and others to be handled by the Response Team established by the Church in Malta to look into sex abuse.

“We have been waiting for seven years for our case to end but justice has not yet been done,” he told reporters April 16.

Welcoming the pope at Malta’s international airport April 17, President George Abela said “the Catholic church remains committed to safeguarding children and all vulnerable people, and to seeing that there is no hiding place for those who seek to do harm.”

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