Pope meets victims of sex abuse in Germany

Pope Benedict XVI met German victims of sexual abuse by priests today and expressed “deep compassion and regret” at the suffering of those abused by members of the clergy, the Vatican said.

The Pope met five victims on the second day of his four-day state visit to his native Germany, which has seen the numbers of Catholics leaving the congregations jump, after hundreds of people came forward in 2010 with stories of having been physically or sexually abused by members of the clergy.