ROME
CBC News
A Vatican-hosted summit organized under the banner of “healing and renewal” for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy members meets Monday, bringing together bishops from more than 100 countries.
Dismissed by some as a PR stunt to repair the church’s damaged reputation over years of scandal, the four-day symposium at the Gregorian University in Rome is expected to be attended by the Vatican’s chief anti-pedophilia prosecutor, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, as well as Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins, who was raped by a hospital chaplain when she was 13.
The heads of 33 religious orders will also take part. Pope Benedict XVI is expected to offer a special blessing for the closed-door conference.
Scicluna has said that protecting children must be “a permanent principle and concern” for the church worldwide.
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