Pope Francis began another round of talks with those affected by the abuse scandal in the Chilean church with a church service Saturday afternoon.
The Holy Father celebrated Mass with the group of Chilean priests who have been staying with him at the Santa Marta guesthouse since Friday, according to Vatican officials.
Building healthy relationship between faithful and shepherds
With the help of the five priests, the pope will seek solutions to address the crisis. "In this way, we could begin to rebuild a healthy relationship between the faithful and their shepherds, if only all of them become aware of their violations," the statement said.
The five clergymen from the circle of Fernando Karadima, now 87, a priest convicted of sexual offenses by the Vatican in 2011, are accompanied by two other priests who provided legal and spiritual assistance to victims, as well as two lay people.
All Chilean bishops offered to renounce office
The meeting this weekend is the third round of talks to come to terms with the abuse scandal in Chile. In mid-May, the bishops of the country were already in the Vatican. 29 of 31 active senior bishops offered to resign in response. The Pope had begun his talks at the end of April at a meeting of just under a week with three victims of abuse from Chile.
This week, Francis had also addressed the country's Catholics in a personal letter, calling on them to renew church life. The "culture of abuse" and the "system of cover-up" could only be eliminated through the cooperation of all.
The eight-page letter was released Thursday by the Chilean Bishops' Conference in Santiago de Chile.