World bishops head to Vatican for sex abuse summit

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis gathers bishops from around the world at the Vatican this week for a hotly-awaited summit on tackling the wave of child sex abuse scandals assailing the Catholic Church.

The heads of around 100 bishops' conferences from every continent will convene from Thursday to Sunday for the meeting, with victims´ groups demanding that a concrete action plan on fighting paedophilia be drawn up. The pope, who asked the bishops to speak to victims of abuse in their respective countries before the Rome convention, has tried to dial down "inflated expectations" for a cure-all.

The conference aims to be an opportunity to improve awareness of the global phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors within the Church, despite many in Africa, Asia and the Middle East being in denial of what they call "a Western problem".

In many parts of the world, discussing violence towards children and even sex is taboo, leading the Vatican to organise this week´s "educational" gathering. Some abuse victims, particularly from countries where their plight is ignored, have also been invited to attend. "Someone who has met a victim, heard their cries for help, their tears, their psychological and physical wounds, can´t remain the same," said German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner.