Church bishops to discuss prevention of child abuse

Florida Statesman Saturday 4th February, 2012

Leaders of the Roman Catholic church in Rome are gathering to attend a conference on sexual abuse of minors within the Church.

They will attend a prayer service for victims of sexual abuse and will discuss new methods of prevention.

The Gregoriana University, the convener of the meeting, will ask for forgiveness over the abuse of children within its organisation.

The conference will open on Monday with bishops from more than a hundred countries and delegates from over 30 congregations and orders to participate.

"All of us must look at the sin and crime of sex abuse and we must face this with humility, courage, reflection and vigilance," Francois-Xavier Dumortier of the Vatican's Gregorian University, said in a statement on the eve of the meeting.

Among the participants in the conference is a girl from Ireland, Marie Collins, who was a victim of sexual abuse. "The decision to come or not was not an easy one," Collins said Sunday.