Pope expresses sorrow in meeting with abuse victims

One of the two Irish victims of clerical sex abuse who had a private audience with the Pope told him that senior cardinals involved in covering up child abuse should be removed from their positions.

Marie Kane, 43, who had never spoken publicly about the abuse she suffered at the hands of a cleric in the Dublin archdiocese, was one of two Irish survivors of abuse who met Pope Francis at his Vatican hotel yesterday. The Irish survivors were assisted by abuse campaigner and abuse survivor Marie Collins.

Two survivors from Britain and two from Germany also had individual meetings with the Pope which lasted approximately 30 minutes each. It was the pontiff’s first meeting with victims of clerical sex abuse.