By Chris Pepper, Michele Cazzulino
Adelaide Now
July 20, 2008
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24047414-5006301,00.html
ADELAIDE'S Catholic leader yesterday promised Pope Benedict XVI that the church in Australia would treat sexual abuse victims with care and compassion.
Archbishop Philip Wilson, in an address in front of the Pontiff just hours after his historic apology to church sex victims, vowed every effort would be made to respond to sexual abuse cases.
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| Pilgrims sleep out under the stars at Randwick Racecourse ready for World Youth Day 2008 today. |
In the speech at a St Mary's Cathedral House lunch attended by the Pope and Australian bishops, Archbishop Wilson said: "The terrible scandal of sexual abuse carried out by some clergy, religious and church personnel and the way these issues were addressed in the past, has had deep and lasting consequences.
"Holy Father, I can assure you we are all making every effort in our response to cases of sexual abuse, with compassion and care for victims."
Archbishop Wilson, who is accompanying the Pope during all of his private and public engagements during his Australian visit, later told the Sunday Mail he hoped the Pontiff's long-awaited apology would help heal victims.
"I welcome Pope Benedict's words today and pray that they will represent a powerful healing moment for many," he said.
Archbishop Wilson said he had also personally assured the Pope that the church's leaders in Australia shared the Pontiff's belief that promoting a safer environment for young people was an urgent priority.
Earlier, the Pope said he was "deeply sorry for the pain and suffering" endured by victims.
He expressed his "shame" about clergy sex scandals and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
He gave the apology during a St Mary's Cathedral mass in front of a congregation of 3400 bishops, seminarians and students as part of World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney.
He told them how he was "deeply sorry" about the scandal.
"Here I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this country," he said during a lengthy homily.
Then, in words that were not in advance copies of the speech, the Pope added: "Indeed, I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured and I assure them that as their pastor I too share in their suffering."
"These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation," he said.
"Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice."
The Pope said he hoped the apology would "bring about healing, reconciliation and even greater fidelity to the demands of the Gospel".
He urged those present, including Australia's most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, to work towards "combating this evil".
Victims of abuse in Australia have long hoped for an apology from the Pope.
While the issue had been prominent in the lead-up to World Youth Day, the Vatican's head of media said last week there was no guarantee that the Pope would apologise. Victims and their supporters said the church needed to go further.
Anthony Forster, whose daughters were raped by a Catholic priest at a Melbourne primary school, said he was deeply unhappy with the apology.
"The church has failed to grab this opportunity to right its wrong and now continues to stand remote from the expectations of us all to believe in the principles of fairness and justice to victims," he said.
John McNally, organiser of victims' advocacy group Broken Rites, described the apology as "in-house" and said that the victims had been locked out of the pomp and ceremony of the Pope's church service.
The Pope, 81, spoke a mixture of Latin and English during yesterday's 2 1/2-hour mass.
"May the power of (the) Holy Spirit consecrate the faithful of this land," he said.
Nuns and deacons rushed to touch his hand as he passed by.
The apology follows a similar statement by the Pope in April during a visit to the US, when he said he was "deeply ashamed" of sex abuse committed by clergy and pledged he would do whatever was possible "so this cannot happen again".
Yesterday, World Youth Day celebrations again stepped up when pilgrims walked 10km from North Sydney across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Randwick racecourse for an evening vigil attended by the Pope.
With boarding laid down to protect the track, the infield was turned into a huge, teeming camping ground.
Cardboard boxes became makeshift tents while tarpaulins and flags quickly became blankets for the estimated 200,000 pilgrims as the winter chill set in.
Many slept at the racecourse, where the Pope will hold mass today on the last day of World Youth Day celebrations.
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