Pell, survivors meet in Rome

A meeting has begun in Rome between Cardinal George Pell and a group of men abused as children by pedophile priests in Victoria.

The cardinal has just completed four days of giving evidence by video link from a Rome hotel to the child abuse royal commission, sitting in Sydney.

He returned to the same hotel on Thursday to meet members of a support group for survivors of sexual abuse in the Ballarat and Melbourne dioceses during the 1970s and 80s.

The survivors have been crowd-funded to Rome from Australia.

They aim to persuade Vatican authorities to boost protections for children from pedophiles.