Pope Francis said he will have his first meeting with a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican early next month and would show zero tolerance for anyone in the Catholic Church who abused children, including bishops.

Priests have welcomed the apostolic visitation’s acknowledgement that further work needs to be completed by the Catholic Church here to ensure that clerics on leave following abuse allegations are all being treated the same across the dioceses.

IRELAND’S four most senior churchmen have been called to Rome to discuss final preparation for a Vatican investigation of the Church in Ireland due to get under way later this month.

The former head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales is one of five senior clerics appointed today to monitor child protection procedures in the church in Ireland.