Pope to express regret for church sex abuse in Australia

The head of the Roman Catholic church in Australia says he expects Pope Benedict XVI to express regret for sexual abuse by church officials when he visits the country next week.

Cardinal George Pell said the pope spoke about the church’s sex abuse scandal during a visit to the United States earlier this year and that he was likely to do something similar when he is in Sydney for the July 15-20 World Youth Day festival.

“He handled it very well in the United States and I anticipate he’ll do the same here,” the Cardinal told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

During a six-day visit to the United States in April, Benedict returned to the issue repeatedly in public comments and met with a group of abuse victims.

He called the crisis a cause of “deep shame,” pledged to keep paedophiles out of the priesthood and decried the “enormous pain” that communities have suffered from such “gravely immoral behaviour” by priests. He also said the problem had sometimes been “badly handled” by the church.

In Australia, Benedict will lead prayers and make speeches during World Youth Day, a five-day festival that is expected to draw 250,000 pilgrims to Sydney.

He is also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and other top government officials, as well as representatives of pilgrims and other faiths. No meeting with abuse victims is on his official schedule.