Two clergy sexual abuse survivors have made a harrowing journey into the Basilica Di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.
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Childhood sexual abuse victim Paul Levey was left trembling as he emerged out the cathedral's wooden doors and into the pouring rain outside.
It had been decades since he had walked around the inside of a church.
And, he was now standing out the front of a church, on a stormy day in the heart of the world's Catholic capital city.
"I just feel this intense anger that rises up inside me," Mr Levey said. "The wealth of the church was dripping off the gold decked walls and it reminded me of all the victims of sexual abuse who are suffering because of what men of God did to them."
WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE TWO SURVIVORS INSIDE THE CHURCH HERE
Mr Levey has never been in a church since he was sexually abused by notorious paedophile Gerard Ridsdale.
Mr Levey said he was left a “broken man” after he was forced to live with Ridsdale when his parents separated in 1982.
He was subjected to daily sexual abuse at the hands of Ridsdale, Mr Levey spent years in a haze of drugs and alcohol, trying to numb the pain.
He said his time in the “monster cave” tore his family apart and destroyed any faith he had in God or the afterlife.
He described stepping inside the church as being like stepping back into Ridsdale's house.
"I wouldn't go to weddings, I wouldn't go to funerals," Mr Levey said. "I would stand outside the church because I couldn't bring myself to go inside."
The sight of wooden confessional boxes inside the church, almost crippled Mr Levey in his tracks.
"The wealth of the church was dripping off the gold decked walls and it reminded me of all the victims of sexual abuse who are suffering because of what men of God did to them."
- Paul Levey
"It reminds me of all the priests protecting each other and not protecting children," he said.
He made the journey with another clergy abuse survivor Andrew Collins who said the journey had made his stomach churn.
"I feel nervous, I feel on edge," Mr Collins said. "I feel like I shouldn't be here. It's like walking into the home of somebody who has abused you."
The two men made the poignant trip to tie colourful Loud Fence ribbons inside the church.
Supporters of abuse victims started Loud Fence in Ballarat last year during Royal Commission into sexual abuse hearings, with bright ribbons tied outside institutions as an overt response to traumas long held silent and a symbol of solidarity with sexual abuse victims.
It has since gone viral with Loud Fences created all over the world including at the gates of the Vatican, London, New York and Bali.
"It's a gesture for all the victims who can't be with us today," Mr Collins said.