«The Pope will receive the victims individually, letting everyone speak for as long as they need to,» it says.
Finally, concludes Greg Burke, the Holy Father «asks for prayers for the Church in Chile at this painful moment, wishing that these meetings can take place in a climate of trust and confidence and be a fundamental step to remedy and avoid forever the abuses of consciousness, power, and in particular, sexuality, within the Church.»
These meetings were scheduled after the Pope issued a letter on April 11, acknowledging that he «made serious mistakes in the assessment and perception of the situation, partially due to «a lack of truthful and balanced information.»
The letter was sent at the end of the inquiry conducted by his special envoy, Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, President of the Special Appeal Panel in cases of sexual abuse of minors by clerics, in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the case of Bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid, Bishop of Osorno, accused by lay people in his diocese of having been aware of the acts of sexual abuse of his former mentor, Fr Fernando Karadima. He was convicted of sexual and psychological abuse by the Vatican in 2011.