Pope holds surprise meeting with clergy abuse victims

A Vatican source said the pope had met with about half a dozen victims.

Chief Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said there was a lot of emotion in the room during the 25-minute meeting and that some victims cried. He said they included men and women and that each spoke privately with the pope, one at a time.

Benedict spoke "affectionate words" to the group and Cardinal O'Malley gave the pope a notebook with the names of about 1,000 sexual abuse victims in the Boston archdiocese, so that the pope could pray for all of them, Lombardi said.

Lombardi said there were silent prayers, then public prayers guided by the cardinal and then the pope spoke to members of the group.

Before the meeting, attendees Bernie McDaid and Olan Horne, who were sexually abused as children, spoke to National Public Radio. Both men voiced skepticism about the meeting.

"I am not kowtowing. I will not kiss his ring," Horne told the U.S. public radio network. "If we walk in and we're served a large plate of platitude, I can be guaranteeing you that I will be the first person to say that this man does lack the moral authority to manage the Catholic Church. I expect more than an apology when I leave that room."

The attendees were not immediately available after the meeting.