Pope to Apologise for Clergy Abuse in Australia

Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in Australia and signaled that he intends to apologize to those who have suffered sexual abuse by clergy.

The 81-year-old pontiff arrived at Richmond airbase, in north-west Sydney, at the beginning of his nine-day tour of Australia. He was greeted by the prime minister, Kevin Rudd, and officials from the Catholic church.

The Pope is to lead the World Youth Day festival, which begins on Thursday and is expected to draw around 200,000 Catholics to Sydney.

During his flight, he 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 pedophiles did not become priests.

On the plane today, he acknowledged the church was "in crisis" in western nations, but insisted it was not in decline. He said he was "an optimist" about the future of the church.

The Pope intends to draw awareness to global warming during his visit. He said there was 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".

The papal visit has prompted complaints about police powers to be used during the event. Under the powers, which came into force on July 1 and will remain in place until July 31, police and emergency workers have the right to move people on if they are deemed to "annoy or inconvenience" pilgrims. Anyone who fails to comply could be fined A$5,500 (?2,630).

The NoToPope coalition has taken the New South Wales government to court arguing that the laws should be declared unconstitutional, after the state's solicitor-general agreed that a protester could be fined for tying a shoelace. Protesters have complained that the annoyance laws are a ''one way street'' to silence dissent.

In Melbourne, more than 100 people, some wearing shirts with slogans such as "Pope is wrong, put a condom on", protested today against World Youth Day and the Catholic church's attitude toward homosexuals, contraception and other issues.

Jason Ball, one of the organizers, said the protesters objected to governments giving millions of dollars to help pay for the event. A similar demonstration is planned for Sydney next weekend.