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	Pope Tells Australian Bishops to 'Repair Errors of Past' West Australian October 20, 2011 au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/10588852/pope-tells-australian-bishops-to-repair-errors-of-past/ VATICAN CITY, Oct 20, 2011 (AFP) - - Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday told Australian bishops that their work had been made more difficult by the clerical sex abuse scandal but exhorted them to "repair the errors of the past with honesty." "Yours is a pastoral burden which has been made heavier by the past sins and mistakes of others, most regrettably including some clergy and religious," he told a group of Australian bishops during a meeting at the Vatican. "The task now falls on you to continue to repair the errors of the past with honesty and openness, in order to build, with humility and resolve, a better future for all concerned," he added. The Australian Catholic Church has been rocked by clerical sex abuse cases, including recent allegations dating back to the 1960s in which an Anglican archbishop claimed he was raped from the age of 15 by a Catholic priest. The pontiff met victims of abuse when he travelled to Sidney for the World Youth Day celebrations in 2008. In his speech to the bishops, Benedict XVI recalled the canonisation a year ago of Australia's first saint, Mary MacKillop, calling her an example "to women religious and to all involved in the education of young people". MacKillop was an inspirational nun and educator who fell out with Australian Church authorities and was briefly excommunicated in 1871 in a fight over control of her order and after her denunciation of a paedophile priest. Her "courageous response to the difficulties she faced throughout her life can also inspire today's Catholics as they confront... serious challenges to the spread of the Gospel in society as a whole," he added. Recalling the success of 2008's youth celebrations, he urged young Catholics "to reflect seriously upon the possibility of a life in the priesthood" as Australia -- like many developed countries -- becomes increasingly secularised. On Wednesday the pope made a personal appearance at the inauguration of an Australian Pilgrimage Centre in Rome, telling pilgrims at the Domus Australia that he hoped they would feel at home in the Eternal City. The 84-year-old pope said he was happy that the new centre in Via Cernaia, not far from the Termini train station, "has brought a little corner of Australia to the ancient city of Rome".
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