Thousands of priests from around the world gathered in Rome today in a major show of support for the pope amid the clerical abuse scandal.
The pope will address them in an eagerly anticipated vigil service in St Peter’s Square.
It is not know whether he will refer to the crisis, but his number two told the prelates that the scandal had pained and damaged the church and shown the need for a spiritual rebirth.
An estimated 9,000 priests are in Rome to celebrate the end of the church’s year of the priest - a year that has been marred by revelations of hundreds of new cases of clerical abuse and Vatican inaction to stop it.
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AP