Vatican City, Apr 28, 2018 / 03:06 am
Last night Pope Francis began individual meetings with three survivors of clerical sexual abuse from Chile following a major apology earlier this month. The encounters, which have no time limit, will go on throughout the weekend and on Monday.
The survivors – Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton and Andres Murillo – were invited by the pope to stay at the Vatican's Saint Martha guesthouse, where he has lived since his election in 2013.
In an April 27 statement from the Vatican, spokesman Greg Burke said there will be no official communique on the encounters, as Francis' primary intention is "to listen to the victims, ask them for forgiveness and respect the confidentiality of these meetings."
"In this climate of trust and of reparation for suffering," Bruke said, "the desire of Pope Francis is to allow those invited to speak for as long as needed, such that there are no fixed schedules or predetermined content."