VATICAN CITY
Press TV (Iran)
[with video]
Pope Francis is to meet with victims of pedophile priests for the first time in a gesture to express his closeness to the tens of thousands of people abused by priests globally.
Six victims from Britain, Germany and Ireland will have face-to-face talks with the head of the Roman Catholic Church at his private residence in the Vatican on Monday, July 7.
The private meeting with abuse victims is the first since the Argentinian Pope was elected last year.
Francis has come under increasing fire for perceived inaction on the part of the Vatican in addressing the problem. Earlier in April, he issued an unprecedented apology for the child sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church.
The Vatican has been rocked by major inquiries into claims of abuse in Ireland, the United States, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and several other countries.
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