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SYDNEY: Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Sydney Sunday for one of the
largest Christian gatherings on earth, on a visit set to be marked
by his apology for sexual abuse by priests in Australia.
Speaking to journalists during his 20-hour
flight Down Under, the 81-year-old Pontiff said he would examine how
the Catholic Church can “prevent, heal and reconcile” the past
crimes of the clergy.
“This is the essential content of what we will
say as we apologize,” he said.
The Pope is due to arrive in Sydney at 3 p.m.
Sunday, but will spend his first few days in private at a Catholic
retreat center on the outskirts of Sydney.
He will be officially welcomed on Thursday when
he arrives in Sydney Harbor by boat before an estimated crowd of
500,000.
His visit for the July 15 to 20 World Youth Day,
a celebration of the Catholic faith aimed at young people, comes as
the issue of sexual abuse by the clergy has again hit headlines in
Australia.
The country’s Catholic leader, Sydney
Archbishop Cardinal George Pell, has been accused of a cover-up over
the sexual assault of a former Catholic teacher by a priest.
Pell, a pioneer of the protocols to deal with
the problem of predatory priests in Australia, has denied the claim,
but has since ordered an independent, Church-appointed panel to
investigate the case.
The scandal has not deterred the tens of
thousands of pilgrims from Australia and around the world who have
begun to stream into Sydney for the events, which culminate in an
open-air Mass at Randwick Randcourse on July 20.
Speaking ahead of his landing in Sydney, the
Pontiff said the main messages of his first visit Down Under will
include an emphasis on environmental concerns and “our
responsibility towards creation.”
“We must awaken consciences,” he told
reporters.
“We have to face up to this great challenge
and find the ethical capacity to change the situation of the
environment for the good,” he added.
Asked whether he was concerned about holding a
major religious event in a mostly secular country, the Pope said
Australia was a part of the Western world and, as such, shared its
successes and problems.
He said there was a crisis of religion in
Europe, where the position sometimes was, “That we do not need God
to be happy, we do not need God to create a better world. God is not
necessary.”
He said this was not so much the case in the US
and Australia.
“On the other hand, God is in the hearts of
human beings and can never disappear,” he said.
“There is always a presence of faith. Now that
[at] this historical moment we begin to see some belief again in
this sense I am fairly optimistic.”
Gay rights activists and others are set to
protest against the Pope’s stance on homosexuality and
contraception during his visit, while police powers to arrest people
for annoying the pilgrims have angered civil libertarians.
But Benedict himself expressed his “great
joy” about the visit, saying World Youth Day events had the
ability to open frontiers between nations and bring cultures
together.
In an official statement to the “great
southern land of the Holy Spirit” he wrote that all Australians
were in his thoughts.
-- AFP
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