Pope apologises for abuse

'I also acknowledge with you the shame and humiliation that all of us have suffered because of these sins,' Pope Benedict said. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON - POPE Benedict apologised to victims of sexual abuse on Saturday, saying paedophile priests had brought 'shame and humiliation' on him and the entire Roman Catholic Church.

At the start of his third day in Britain, the pope celebrated a Mass for some 2,000 people in Westminster Cathedral, the mother church for Roman Catholics in England and Wales and a symbol of the struggle of Catholics to assert their rights after the Reformation.

It was the 83-year-old pontiff's latest attempt to come to grips with the scandal that has rocked the 1.1 billion-member Church, particularly in Europe and the United States.

'I think of the immense suffering caused by the abuse of children, especially within the Church and by her ministers. Above all, I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these unspeakable crimes,' he said in his sermon in the towering cathedral built in the late 19th century.

'I also acknowledge with you the shame and humiliation that all of us have suffered because of these sins,' he said, adding that he hoped 'this chastisement' would contribute to the healing of the victims and the purification of the Church.

He has apologised before for sexual abuse by priests and has acknowledged that the Church was slow to deal with the problem. But his comments on Saturday were among his most succinct.-- REUTERS