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	Archbishop Cremona Meets Maltese Abuse Victims By David Lindsay Malta Independent April 14, 2010 http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=104516 It is understood that a formal request for a meeting with the Pope was presented to Archbishop Paul Cremona, during yesterday's meeting with the 10 victims of priestly sexual abuse. One of the victims, Lawrence Grech, who spoke during a press conference on Monday, said they were requesting a meeting with Archbishop Cremona and Mons Carmel Scicluna, so as to help them emerge from this ordeal. Archbishop Cremona wasted no time in replying to their request, and extended an invitation to the victims. At the time of going to print yesterday evening, the meeting had not yet been concluded. The victims also said during the press conference on Monday that they wished to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, who has expressed a desire to meet with abuse victims. As it is, there must be a formal request for a meeting with the Pope. The Italian news agency ANSA also reported yesterday that the Pope is likely to meet with the group of Maltese priestly sexual abuse victims during his visit to Malta this weekend. Quoting Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, who gave a briefing on the pontiff's visit to Malta to the Vatican press corps yesterday morning, ANSA quoted Lombardi as saying that while no such meetings were on the Pope's official agenda, he is likely to meet victims privately "in a climate of prayer and reflection, not under media pressure". Such meetings have "always taken place in an atmosphere of contemplation and discretion" and the pontiff does not want to hold any "under media pressure, with little opportunity to listen," Lombardi told a news conference. "The pope has already said he was prepared to meet (abuse victims) as he has done in the past," in the United States and Australia in 2008, Lombardi told the Vatican press corps. Another news agency reported Lombardi saying that no such encounter was on the pope's "already very tight" programme for the visit, while adding that he would neither announce one nor rule one out. "Obviously the pope meets whomever he wants, it depends on the circumstances, but don't hold out great hopes" of a meeting with victims in Malta, Lombardi told the news conference. The Pope, who will visit Malta on 17 and 18 April, is struggling to contain damage to the Catholic Church's reputation amid a flood of sexual abuse allegations against clerics in the US, Europe and Latin America. It will also be his fist visit abroad since widespread scandals began.
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