Pope sorry for Australian clergy sex abuse
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - July 18, 2008 The pope addressed a Mass Saturday attended by Australia's Roman
Catholic bishops and seminarians, and said he wanted to acknowledge
the "shame that we have all felt as result of the sexual abuse of
minors by some clergy and religious" in Australia.
He said the deeds of clergy responsible for abuse were a grave
betrayal of trust that had caused great pain, had damaged the Roman
Catholic church, and deserved unequivocal condemnation.
Support groups for victims of church abuse in Australia, whose
numbers are not known but who activists say are in the thousands,
have demanded the pope make a full and open apology for clergy
abuse and do more to prevent future abuse.
