The men who first spoke out about sexual abuse they suffered at the hand of Maltese priests while they were residing in an orphanage, were yesterday allowed to begin the long and tortuous road to rehabilitation after they were granted a meeting with Archbishop Paul Cremona.

In fact, Lawrence Grech described the meeting as ‘a great help, particularly in the spiritual sense’.

A number of victims appealed for the meeting after a press conference on Monday evening, which came in the wake of a vague apology by the bishops last week.

While one has to say that the apology as made by the bishops was not what these men were expecting to hear, Archbishop Cremona did the right thing in issuing a formal notice of acceptance of the meeting within minutes of the news breaking.

He also went on to listen to each of the individual victims’ stories and invited them back for another session with their families. This is all positive, and most importantly, it is positive for the victims. For years they have suffered frustration and rebuttal. Finally, they have made some form of peace with themselves and the Church. But, we will have to echo one sentiment expressed by Mr Grech, who said that he and his friends’ only wish was that this meeting had come sooner.

As it stands, while the Archbishop did conduct himself humbly, and as he should have, it is evident that the meeting only came around after the local and international pressure on the church made it the only way forward.

However, this first important step that has been made to rehabilitation far outweighs any other editorial comment that can be made.

During the meeting with the Archbishop, the victims presented a formal letter to apply to meet Pope Benedict in private. They do not want to protest, they do not want to cause more panic within the Church and they do not want to mar the Pope’s visit. These men acknowledge that it is the individuals who injured them who are to be brought to justice and not the Church as an entity. What they want now is for the Pope to keep to his promise made earlier to meet more victims. It must be hard. It must be terrible to struggle with the demons that these men have inside them. It must take a lot of self restraint and courage to say that they do not want to harm the Church after what they have been through. But what they want is perhaps the hardest thing of all for the Pope to do – to acknowledge these people’s suffering in person. One can never speak for these men, only they know how they must feel. The Pope is reportedly considering a meeting with them – but on a personal level and with no media pressure. This newspaper is not pressuring the Pope to do anything, we do not feel it is anyone’s interest to do so.

But in his heart of hearts, as we know in our heart of hearts, the right and correct thing to do is to meet these people in person and allow them the fundamental right to try and piece together their damaged personas. If these people do find some peace, then it will far outweigh – in a spiritual sense – the negatives in the Pope acknowledging their suffering in person.