Pope Francis is to send a personally-written letter to the President of the Chilean Catholic Bishops Conference, addressed to all the People of God, as he had promised the Bishops. The announcement was made by the Director of the Holy See’s Press Office, Greg Burke, in a statement released on Thursday.

The Vatican communique also noted that the Pope will host a second group of clerical abuse victims from Chile at the Santa Marta residence from 1-3 June. It said that Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, will return to Chile as part of their ongoing mission to reach out to the victims of abuse by the Chilean priest Father Fernando Karadima and his followers and carry out further investigations into the case.

During the weekend Pope Francis is scheduled to hold a series of private meetings with the abuse victims from Chile together with two priests accompanying them who have provided spiritual support to the victims.