Australia Church apologises for abuse

Pell: Expressed "deep sadness" over abuse cases

Australia's Roman Catholic Church has apologised for sexual abuse carried out by its priests - but denied that it had tried to buy their victims' silence.

The apology came in newspaper advertisements across the country placed by the archbishops of the two biggest dioceses.

We apologise, sincerely and unreservedly, to all victims of abuse and to the Australian community, for the wrongs and hurt suffered

Archbishop George Pell and Archbishop Denis Hart

Sydney Archbishop George Pell and Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart expressed regret over the Church's failure to deal more swiftly with the issue.

"We...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," the advertisements, in the form of an open letter, 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."

Allegations

The advertisements followed allegations that Archbishop Pell - when working in the Melbourne diocese - offered thousands of dollars to victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests in an attempt to buy their silence.

Sex abuse scandals in the US have led to huge public outcry

The parents of two women who had been abused as children by a Catholic priest said the archbishop's lawyers had offered them $30,000 (50,000 Australian dollars).

Archbishop Pell admitted offering the money to victims but said the funds were only to compensate them, not to buy their silence.

In the advertisements Archbishop Pell and Archbishop Hart insisted that offers of monetary compensation were not "hush money".

"Victims are not silenced as a condition for receiving counselling or compensation," their letter said.

However once victims accept the funds they must sign releases preventing them from continuing with legal proceedings.

Compensation

Archbishop Pell said earlier in the week that although it was unclear whether the scandal in Australia had reached the scale of that in the US, where the Catholic Church faces hundreds of lawsuits over alleged abuse by priests, there was an "evil" in Australia which must be confronted.

He also said that up to 90 priests had been convicted of sexual abuse in the past six years in Australia, Reuters news agency reported.

The total amount of compensation paid to victims of abuse by Catholic priests in Australia is not known.

A scheme Archbishop Pell set up in Melbourne in 1996 has dealt with 126 cases and paid out $1.7 million (3 million Australian dollars) in compensation.

A further $850,000-1.1 million (1.5-2 million Australian dollars) was paid out for counselling victims.

And in the state of Victoria $1.7 million (3 million Australian dollars) has been paid out to victims.