Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Australia yesterday, saying he wants to use his visit to raise awareness about global warming and address the crisis of clergy sexual abuse.
Benedict suggested to reporters on the flight from the Vatican that he would express regret about abuse by priests, though victims’ groups are demanding he go further and make a direct formal apology.
The clergy abuse scandal is a serious note in the pope’s 10-day visit to Australia, his first, during which he will join the World Youth Day festival that has attracted more than 200,000 people.
Benedict, 81, flew more than 20 hours from the Vatican to touch down at a military air base on Sydney’s outskirts. He waved briefly as he climbed down the plane’s stairway and was greeted on the tarmac by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and other church and government officials.
He was driven to a retreat in Sydney where he would stay out of the public eye until the youth festival formally begins on Thursday.
During the flight, Benedict told reporters he would work for “healing and reconciliation with the victims” of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in Australia “just as I did in the United States.”
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 that pedophiles do not become priests.
Clergy abuse support groups in Australia have demanded that Benedict apologize during his visit for the abuse they suffered. The exact number of victims of clergy abuse in Australia is not known, though activists say it is in the thousands.
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 Corp radio. “We want action, not words.”
“The pope must apologize 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,” he said.
On the plane, Benedict acknowledged the church in the West was “in crisis” but insisted it was not in decline.
“I am an optimist” about its future, he said.
Asked about global warming, the pope said there is a need to “wake up consciences” about the issue.
“We have to give impulse to rediscovering our responsibility and to finding an ethical way to change our way of life,” he said.
Politicians and experts must be “capable of responding to the great ecological challenge and to be up to the task of this challenge,” he said.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS