iStock/Thinkstock(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis is planning to meet with victims of priest sex abuse for the first time next week.
Vatican sources say the encounter will take place inside the Pope’s private residence. There, he’ll meet victims of clergy sex abuse from the U.S., England, Ireland and Poland.
The meeting is said to be private and the Vatican has not announced the exact date and time.
The meeting, though, will take place on one of the days the Vatican’s advisory group of eight cardinals meets next week to discuss Catholic Church reform.
Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, a member of the papal commission on clergy sex abuse, set up the meeting between Pope Francis and survivors.
Some survivor groups have dismissed the encounter as a public relations move to distract the public from what they say is the Vatican’s failure to properly address the abuse crisis.
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