Australia’s Roman Catholic Church took out newspaper
advertisements in major cities on Saturday to apologise to victims of sexual abuse.
Sydney Archbishop George Pell and Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart issued a renewed apology for the ”evil of sexual abuse” perpetrated by their clergy, but insisted the church had never tried to silence victims.
They said their goal was to move ”towards healing” and the church aimed for ”openness and transparency”.
The advertisements included phone numbers for the Independent Commissioner and the Professional Standards Office, to which people could make complaints.
Pell has denied claims he used a compensation scheme to silence sex abuse victims.
”We again acknowledge with deep sadness and regret the evil of sexual abuse and other betrayals of trust which have been committed by a small minority of Catholic clergy,” Pell and Hart said.
”On behalf of the Catholic Church in Melbourne and Sydney, and personally, we apologise, sincerely and unreservedly, to all victims of abuse, and to the Australian community, for the wrongs and hurt suffered.”
Pell said earlier in the week he did not know if abuse by clergy in Australia was as bad as the scandals which have rocked the church in the United States, but that there was an evil in Australia which must be confronted.
But victims’ rights groups criticised the advertisements for not containing the phone numbers of the police sexual offences unit or of any non-Catholic professional agency.
”We’ve got to go to the pope and say America’s not the only place, it’s been happening here for years,” said victim David Ridsdale.
The Catholic Church in the United States has been rocked by a sex-abuse scandal in which at least 225 of the country’s 46 000 priests have either been dismissed or resigned since January. – Sapa-AFP