Sexual abuse by priests causes 'sadness and shame' - Pope

Sexual abuse scandals rocking the Roman Catholic church cause ‘‘a deep sense of sadness and shame’’, Pope John Paul said today.

But in his first speech to the public on the matter this year, the Pope told an estimated 800,000 people at a soggy, muddy World Youth Day Mass in Toronto, Canada, that young believers should not let the actions of a few sway their devotion.

‘‘If you love Jesus, love the Church. Do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members,’’ John Paul said.

While ‘‘the harm done by some priests and religious to the young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame,’’ he called the vast majority of priests and other church figures people ‘‘whose only wish is to serve and do good.’’

‘‘Be close to them and support them,’’ the Pontiff said to cheers from the vast crowd basking in sunshine after spending all night outdoors and getting drenched in morning rainstorms.

Since January, the US church has been engulfed by sexual abuse accusations and recent cases have cropped up in Germany, Ireland and the Pope’s native Poland.

Prior to today, his only statements since the sex abuse scandals erupted in the Boston archdiocese in January had been a pre-Easter letter to priests and a speech to cardinals summoned to the Vatican in April.

During the week of World Youth Day activities preceding today’s final Mass, some pilgrims said they wanted John Paul to discuss the sexual abuse issue to ease their concerns and questions about the negative publicity and what it meant for the church.

‘‘I think it’s very important that he decided to mention it,’’ said Lorenzo Schiavone, 42, of St David’s Parish in Toronto. ‘‘It shows the commitment of the whole church and at the same time that anyone in a family can make mistakes.’’

David Clohessy, US national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, called the comments a ‘‘missed opportunity.’’

‘‘A few words of apology from someone of his stature could help perhaps hundreds of people to feel some sense of healing,’’ he said, adding the Pontiff’s comments seemed to focus more on suffering priests than on clerical sex abuse victims.

‘‘There’s not one word about victims. Not one,’’ Clohessy said, in a phone interview from his Missouri home. ‘‘I would have hoped he would have encouraged young people to believe, listen to and support the victims as well as support the priests.’’

John Paul spoke to a huge damp congregation at a former airfield in north Toronto converted into an outdoor church with a 50-m (160ft) cross towering above.

The throng that stretched as far as the eye could see, waving flags from every corner of the world, cheered wildly when the ‘‘popemobile’’ made its way through with the Pontiff sitting and waving his arms in greeting.

Most of the congregation spent the night there and woke up wet from a dawn storm, and a steady rain that began later delayed the Pope’s arrival for 20 minutes. Skies above cleared as the Pope began the Mass, though more clouds gathered on the horizon.

Those who stayed overnight said the storm made things messy and uncomfortable, but they didn’t seem to mind.

During a 2 1/2 hour prayer service at the vigil on Saturday night, the 82-year-old pontiff said the new millennium opened with two contrasting scenarios: the sight of pilgrims in Rome for the Holy Year, and the ‘‘terrible terrorist attack on New York, an image that is sort of an icon of a world in which hostility and hatred seem to prevail.’’

His voice strong despite symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and other health problems, John Paul urged young people to be the builders of a ‘‘civilization of love’’ and learn ‘‘to build brick by brick, the city of God within the city of man.’’

Though frail from symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and hip and knee problems, John Paul began his 11-day trip that proceeds to Guatemala and Mexico by determinedly walking with a cane, an aide holding his left arm, at initial appearances in Canada.

On Monday, the Pope proceeds to Guatemala, then to Mexico to complete the 97th trip of his nearly quarter-century papacy.