Pope 'must apologise for clerical sex abuse'
Pope Benedict XVI has raised expectations that he would apologise directly to victims of past clergy sexual abuse.
The pontiff in Australia this week for a Roman Catholic gathering of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.
He told reporters during a 20-hour flight to Australia for a nine-day visit that started yesterday that he would do everything possible to achieve "healing and reconciliation with the victims" of maltreatment by priests.
Activists in Australia, who have demanded the Pope make a formal apology to victims to help cool the scandal that has dogged the Church in recent years, cautiously welcomed his comments, but said he should go further and stop the Church's opposition to compensation claims.
Senior clerics organising the World Youth Day festival in Sydney this week have avoided using the word "apology" to describe remarks Benedict is expected to make about the problem of clergy abuse, but they have made it clear there will be some expression of regret.
Benedict touched down at a military air base on the outskirts of Sydney, where there is a growing buzz about the festival as pilgrims flood into the city for the largest public event since the 2000 Olympic Games.
He was greeted on the tarmac by prime minister Kevin Rudd and other government and church officials, but the arrival was relatively low-key, with crowds kept away from the base.
The pontiff was then whisked by motorcade to a retreat in the city where he will stay out of the public eye until Thursday, when he will ride by boat through Sydney harbour to a wharfside venue and address a large crowd.
Aides say the 81-year-old pontiff is in good health, though his schedule has been arranged to include a few days of rest before attending the World Youth Day events, which start tomorrow. The festival will culminate on July 20 with an open-air papal Mass at a racetrack in Sydney.
At the start of a US visit earlier this year, Benedict said he was "deeply ashamed" of the abuse scandal and pledged to work to make sure paedophiles did not become priests. He held a private meeting with a group of abuse victims.
Bernard Barrett, a spokesman for the victims' group Broken Rites, said Benedict's comments did not go far enough.
"He made some general remarks about regret to reporters and that's not good enough," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio. "We want action, not words."
"The Pope must apologise for the way his Australian bishops have covered up sexual abuse, the Pope must tell his Australian bishops to stop blocking victims' access to justice in the civil law courts."
Bishop Anthony Fisher, a spokesman for the event in Sydney, said the Church in Australia welcomed "the Holy Father's word of compassion and of leadership for us with respect to the victims of sexual abuse".
"Given our efforts to do the right thing in this very difficult area, we're heartened by the Holy Father's words and we look forward to hearing what he has to say" during World Youth Day, Bishop Fisher said.
Meanwhile in the southern city of Melbourne, more than 100 people, some wearing shirts with slogans such as "Pope is wrong, put a condom on", protested yesterday against World Youth Day and the Catholic Church's attitude towards homosexuals, contraception and other issues. A similar demonstration is planned for Sydney next weekend.
Benedict will be greeted at Sydney Harbour on Thursday by a group of Aborigines and other young people. He will then tour Sydney in a parade expected to shut down most of the downtown district.
He will join a crowd expected at a vigil before leading Mass next Sunday at the culmination of the festival.
