Pope Francis announced today (May 26, 2014) that he will meet soon with a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican and declared "zero tolerance" for any member of the clergy who violates a child, the Newser website reports.
Francis also revealed that three bishops are currently under investigation by the Vatican for abuse-related reasons, although it was not clear if they were accused of committing abuse or having covered it up. "There are no privileges," he told reporters en route back to Rome from Jerusalem.
The meeting with a half-dozen victims will mark the first such encounter for the pope, who has been criticized by victims for not expressing personal solidarity with them when he has reached out to several other groups of people who suffer. The United Nations has criticized the Vatican in recent months for covering up over a thousand sexual abuse incidents by Catholic clergy.
Francis said the meeting and a Mass at the Vatican hotel where he lives will take place early next month. "On this issue, we must go forward, forward. Zero tolerance," Francis asserted, calling abuse of children an "ugly" crime that betrays God.
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