The 10 victims who claim to have been sexually abused by members of the clergy have welcomed the news that the Vatican's Promoter of Justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has accepted to meet them.

Mgr Charles Scicluna, who is responsible for dealing with sexual and physical abuse perpetrated by members of the clergy, has agreed to meet the Maltese victims in June. Earlier this week, Archbishop Paul Cremona met the alleged victims and also offered to meet the victims and their families in future.

Lawrence Grech, one of the victims, said: "This is very good news for us. It shows that the Maltese Church and now the Vatican are taking our case and our pain seriously."

Mr Grech had approached the Church's response team in 2003 but says he did not get justice.

"We sincerely hope that, through this meeting, we get it now. At the same time, we continue to insist on getting civil and criminal justice from our courts. We have been waiting for seven years for our case to end but justice has not yet been done," he added.

Joseph Magro, another sexual abuse victim, said: "We are very happy our cries are being heard by the Church authorities, locally and at the Vatican. We are also very grateful that this good news is coming on the eve of Pope Benedict's XVI visit to Malta. All of us welcome the Pope to Malta with open arms and augur that his visit will leave the desired results."

However, the alleged victims reiterated they were still waiting for the Vatican to reply to their formal request to meet Pope Benedict XVI during his 26-hour visit to Malta.

The alleged victims have also asked the Pope, who arrives today, to specifically refer to Maltese victims of abuse in his public declarations during the visit.