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	Mgr Carmel Scicluna Agrees to Meet Child Sex Abuse Victims Malta Independent April 17, 2010 http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=104704 Things appear to be taking a turn for the better for the 10 men alleged to have been sexually abused by priests in their youth, as Mgr Carmel Scicluna, the Promoter of Justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, has also accepted the men's request for a formal meeting. Mgr Scicluna, the Vatican's top official responsible for dealing with sexual and physical abuse by members of the clergy, has agreed to meet the Maltese victims in June. Earlier this week the 10 men also requested a meeting with Archbishop Paul Cremona, OP, who gladly accepted their request and duly met them on Tuesday evening. A great help, particularly in the spiritual sense, was how Lawrence Grech, one of the sexually abused, described the meeting with the Archbishop, who also offered to meet the victims and their families again in the future, an offer which Mr Grech said they would gladly accept. Speaking about the latest announcement, Mr Grech, said: "The latest bit of news is very consoling. It shows that the Maltese church and also the Vatican are now taking our case and pain seriously. We had approached the local Church's Response Team in 2003 but, unfortunately, we did not get justice then. We sincerely hope that, through this meeting with Mgr Scicluna, we will get it now. At the same time, we continue to insist on getting civil and criminal justice from the Maltese law courts. We have been waiting for seven years for our case to end but justice has not been done yet." Joseph Magro, another sexual abuse victim, added: "We are very happy that our cries are now being heard by the Church authorities, locally and at the Vatican. We are also very grateful that this good news is coming on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Malta. All of us welcome the Pope to Malta with open arms and augur that his visit will leave the desired results". The victims also said during a press conference earlier this week that they wished to meet Pope Benedict XVI himself, as he had expressed the wish to meet more victims of abuse committed by the clergy. The Italian news agency ANSA had reported earlier this week that the Pope is likely to meet with the 10 sexually abused victims during his visit to Malta this weekend. However, the abuse victims said that they are still waiting for a response from the Vatican to their request to meet for a few minutes with Pope Benedict XVI behind closed doors. Spokespeople speaking on behalf of the Vatican said that if the Pope agrees to the meeting, he is likely to meet the victims privately "in a climate of prayer and reflection, not under media pressure".
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