Washington  - The pope stood before them "almost as if in front of a jury," recalled Olan Horne, one of the priest sex abuse victims who met with Pope Benedict XVI.

He was describing to CNN the tradition-breaking meeting on Thursday, when the pontiff met with five victims from Boston - the first such known meeting for the Vatican at least since the wave of worldwide abuse revelations that started in the 1990s.

Benedict, who travelled to New York Friday morning to address the United Nations, has made public comments about the scandal every day since Tuesday, when he discussed it with reporters on board the plane with him on the way into Washington.

While survivor groups expected such a meeting, they themselves had never heard a response from the Vatican on their requests for an audience.

Three of the five who met for 25 minutes with the pontiff talked to CNN Friday morning. All had been molested as children by a priest.

"I had so much what I wanted to say, and I just burst into tears," said Faith Johnston, a young woman who was describing her reaction when she saw the pope.

She said Benedict asked about her upcoming wedding, and she left the meeting with a peace of mind and optimism about the future.

Horne, who appeared to be in his 40s, was less conciliatory.

"I talked about my hate for the church. I asked him to forgive me for having such hate," Horne said.

Bernie McDaid, also apparently in his 30s or 40s, noted the six-year-struggle for resolution.

It's been six years since the Boston Globe daily newspaper published the first revelations about widespread sexual abuse of children by priests which had gone on for decades in the Boston Diocese, apparently with the full knowledge of Cardinal Bernard Law.

Abusive priests were shuffled from one parish to the next ahead of angry parents, but loyal Catholic parents were told to keep quiet about it.

The Boston revelations unleashed a flood of similar allegations, criminal trials and out-of-court settlements that have drained the US church of at least 2 billion dollars and forced it to close many churches.

"It's always been about the church, the money, the lawsuit," McDaid said. "We really struggled."

The meeting with the pope, he said, meant "finally coming full circle here."

The meetings were welcomed by the country's leading victims' group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), which called it a "small, long-over due step forward on a very long road."

But David Clohessy, SNAP national director, said the meeting as well as the pope's multiple comments over the past days about the scandal fall short of what is needed.

"The simple truth is that no child is better protected tomorrow because of a 25-minute meeting today," he told Deutsche Presse- Agentur by telephone on Thursday. "Talk can bring change, or talk can bring complacency. Complacency protects no one."

SNAP wants the pope to censure and discipline thelarge number of bishops who allegedly participated in decades of cover-ups - a move they say is essential to protecting children in the future.

"We're interested in prevention, not punishment. We want complicit bishops disciplined for one simple reason - to deter future recklessness and secrecy and callousness," said Clohessy in an interview.

SNAP frequently refers to former Boston Cardinal Law as an example of inaction. Law was forced to step down in late 2002 after the scandal plunged his Boston diocese into financial ruin, following legal settlements with hundreds of sexual-abuse victims.

But he still has the title of Cardinal and was given an important post at a Basilica in Rome - a position his critics see as reward, not punishment. (dpa)