VATICAN CITY — Cloistered inside the Vatican on Thursday, Roman Catholic Church leaders heard searing prerecorded video testimonials from abuse survivors, including one made pregnant three times by a priest who started abusing her at age 15, beat her and forced her to have abortions.

“Victims need to be believed,” another person pleaded by video, urging bishops and other church leaders to work with civil authorities to hold sexually deviant clerics accountable.

Outside the Vatican walls, clusters of people who have suffered abuse in the Catholic Church hovered near news conferences, gave hours’ worth of interviews, observed vigils and planned a Saturday march.

Many expressed exasperation and little optimism that an extraordinary four-day meeting of bishops and other participants convened by Pope Francis to grapple with clerical child sexual abuse would lead to even basic changes.