Update: Pope meets five clerical sexual abuse victims at British Apostolic Nunciature

According to a Vatican statement issued yesterday shortly after 6pm UK time (7pm Maltese time) this evening, he met "a group of persons who had been sexually abused by members of the clergy". It gave no further details on how many or for how long.

The statement quoted the Pope as saying that he was "moved by what they had to say and expressed his deep sorrow and shame over what victims and their families had suffered.

“He prayed with them and assured them that the Catholic Church is continuing to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people, and that it is doing all in its power to investigate allegations, to collaborate with civil authorities and to bring to justice clergy and religious accused of these egregious crimes."

The Vatican added that, as on other occasions, he had "prayed that all the victims of abuse might experience healing and reconciliation".

It concluded that, following the meeting, the pope would address “a group of professionals and volunteers dedicated to safeguarding children and young people in church environments”.

Pope Benedict XVI describes clerical paedophilia as ‘unspeakable crimes’

Earlier, Pope Benedict XVI today had made his strongest comment to date about the paedophile clergy scandal which had engulfed the Catholic Church worldwide, including in the United Kingdom (UK), describing them as “unspeakable crimes”

“Think of the immense suffering caused by the abuse of children, especially within the Church and by her ministers.

“Above all, I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these unspeakable crimes, along with my hope that the power of Christ's grace, his sacrifice of reconciliation, will bring deep healing and peace to their lives,” the Pope had said this morning during his homily at Westminister Cathedral.

“I also acknowledge with you the shame and humiliation which all of us have suffered because of these sins; and I invite you to offer it to the Lord with trust that this chastisement will contribute to the healing of victims, the purification of the Church and the renewal of her age-old commitment to the education and care of young people,” Benedict XVI added.

In his homily, Pope Benedict XVI has also expressed his gratitude “for the efforts being made to address this problem responsibly, and I ask all of you to show your concern for the victims and solidarity with your priests”.

Significantly, Pope Benedict XVI had made his reference during his homily this morning at the Catholic Cathedral at Westminster, the most significant place for British Catholics.

Until now, Pope Benedict had shied away from making any references to the sexual child abuse scandal that had affected also the UK. He had previously made a reference to this during the papal flight on his way to the UK on Thursday morning.

Victims of Catholic clerical paedophilia in the UK had until now insisted that Pope Benedict XVI’s apology for the Vatican’s tardiness in taking decisive action on addressing this issue was insufficient.

Speaking exclusively to MaltaToday on Thursday evening, MACSAS Founder Margaret Kennedy had said: “Far from being a misdemeanour of tardiness, the policy of moving clergy, putting them in new dioceses, new countries was a worldwide strategy rather than sloppy action”.

“In this regard the Vatican and church leaders can be accused of grave neglect, sinful and criminal disregard of the normal human instinct to safeguard children and blatant disregard of adult survivors who reported and warned of the dangers,” she had insisted.

“Avoid reporting has led to abuse of more children, denial of harm to the victim and re-abuse to many victims who reported the abuse to the church,” Kennedy, herself a victim of sexual abuse, had told MaltaToday.

The MACSAS co-founder had also taken issue with the fact that in his comments, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of keep paedophile priests “away from children”: “notice how ‘laicization is not mentioned”,  she lamented.

Kennedy had also explained how sex offending of children had “always been a crime in the UK regardless of the causes, as well as the churches’ actions to shelter”

On Tuesday morning, the Pope had described clerical paedophilia as an "illness" whose sufferers had lost their free will, using his strongest language to date on the church’s record on the matter.

This strong statement was made during a press briefing for accredited correspondents on board the papal plane this morning on his way to the United Kingdom for a four-day visit.

Benedict XVI had also deplored the Catholic Church’s failure to act swiftly and decisively in the past.

The pope had been speaking after a UK broadcaster Channel 4 documentary this week had reported that several British priests convicted of paedophile offences were still active in the church.

Answering previously submitted questions during a 15-minute briefing, he had said: "It is difficult to understand how this perversion of the priestly mission was possible".

Pope Benedict had said he had learnt of the cases which had come to light recently with sadness, adding "sadness also that the church authorities were not sufficiently vigilant and insufficiently speedy and decisive in taking the necessary measures."

The Roman Catholic Church, he had insisted, had been "at a moment of penitence, humility and renewed sincerity".

Benedict XVI had explained how his first priority was to help the victims to recover from the trauma they had undergone "and rediscover too their faith in the message of Christ".

He had added that priests at risk of sexually abusing the young should be "excluded from all possibility of access to young people because we know that this is an illness and free will does not work when there is this sickness."

“We must protect these people against themselves," Pope Benedict XVI had insisted.

Charlot Zahra reporting

Pope meets UK leaders (courtesy ITN News)

Pope condemns clerical pedophilia as 'unspeakable crime" (courtesy ITN News Channel)

Pope celebrates Mass at Westminister Cathedral (courtesy ITN News Channel)

Young children greet Pope outside Westminister Cathedral (courtesy ITN News Channel)

Pope meets five victims of clerical sexual abuse at British Apostolic Nunciature in London (courtesy: RomeReports news agency)