Representatives of
victims of clerical abuse have met with members of the apostolic
visitation, a body set up to investigate abuse within the Catholic
church.
The visitation was announced by Pope Benedict in March 2010 in a pastoral letter to Catholics in Ireland.
The publication of reports into abuse in Catholic institutions in the Republic prompted the decision.
It has held meetings across NI and the Irish Republic this month.
The panel is being led by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the retired archbishop of Westminster.
Four representatives of Survivors and Victims of
Institutional Abuse, the main campaign group for victims of clerical and
institutional abuse in Northern Ireland, went into the talks in Newry
with senior members of the Catholic church earlier on Friday.
BBC district reporter Claire Savage said she had been told
their main role is their duty of care towards victims as well as
investigating what went wrong within the structure of the church to
allow the abuse to happen and how it can be corrected.
However, some survivors are not convinced that the meetings are anything more than a public relations exercise.
Trust
Margaret McGuckin, of Survivors and Victims of Institutional
Abuse, said she was abused at a Sisters of Nazareth orphanage in Belfast
from the age of three.
She said she hoped the ongoing talks with senior members of the Catholic clergy "are not just for show".
Ms McGuckin said she believed that bishops were told not to take investigations further.
"They were told not to go to the police with any allegations
that were made to them regarding the abuses so how are we, the victims
of institutional and clerical abuse, ever meant to trust our bishops or
the Vatican anymore.
The Pope's letter expressed sorrow and regret at the abuse perpetrated by priests on the island.
He said he would send teams of inspectors to some Irish
dioceses, seminaries and Irish religious orders to investigate how far
they had strayed from the new rules laid down by the Vatican to try to
curb clerical abuse.
Five senior prelates are taking part in the inquiry panel.
As well as Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, the others are Cardinal
O'Malley, Boston, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, New York, Archbishop Thomas
Collins, Toronto, and Archbishop Terence Prendergast SJ, Ottawa.
Friday's meeting comes a month after the Stormont Executive
announced it was launching its own inquiry into historical and
institutional child abuse.
SIC: BBC/UK