Two more men come forward with sexual abuse claims against priests

The Sunday Times today reported that one of them, Joseph Mangion, was regularly fondled by a priest by his bedside first thing in the morning when he was 16 and 17 years old. Mangion recounted his claims to Monsignor Charles Scicluna, Promoter of Justice at the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during a private meeting on Friday.

“I only managed to pluck up the courage recently especially I saw some of my former friends speak up. I also consulted my family,” he was quoted as saying.

Scicluna was expected to remain in Malta until 2 July to gather further information from the victims against the four priests who served at the institute. When asked about a promise he had made to one of the victims that action would be taken by August, Scicluna acknowledged that there was a sense of urgency but added that the time-frame depended on the Curia’s Response Team as well as the amount of cooperation from the victims.

Scicluna was reportedly meeting the men together with a notary, who was taking detailed statements.  His approach on the case was welcomed by one of the victims, one of whom described his one-on-one meetings with him as “amazing”. He was the prosecuting officer in this case, but his work would rely heavily on the investigations made by the Maltese Curia’s Response Team.

Decisions would then be taken on local level by Archbishop Paul Cremona, together with the Vatican.

He said that he did not have the intention of meeting one of the accused priests, including one who was still in Italy. That was the responsibility of the local response team, Scicluna added.