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Catholic World News News Feature

Pope speaks on sex abuse, environment, Anglicans July 14, 2008

During a press conference aboard the flight carrying him to Australia for the 23rd World Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on the clerical sex-abuse crisis, his concern for the environment, the troubles facing the Church of England, and the general challenge of secularism.

The Holy Father spoke to journalists during his flight from Rome to Sydney, Australia. Not long after the plane reached cruising altitude, the Pontiff appeared in the journalists' cabin, flanked by Vatican officials, and answered five questions posed by reporters. During the interview the Pope spoke in Italian and, more deliberately, in English.

Asked to speak about the sex-abuse crisis-- which has provoked intense pressure for a papal apology during his visit to Australia-- the Pope said that he would deliver the same message that he had stressed several times during his April trip to the United States. He explained that he felt it was "essential for the Church to reconcile, to prevent, to help, and also to see the guilt."

Pope Benedict appeared to reject the argument that the failure of Church leaders to respond adequately to sexual abuse by priests was due in part to a lack of understanding about the psychology of abuses. The moral teaching of the Church, he said, "has always been clear from the very first centuries." He underlined his point that "being a priest is incompatible with this behavior," and added that "pedophilia is always bad-- I want to clarify that."

The Pontiff also spoke about environmental concerns, saying that such questions "will be very present" in the minds of World Youth Day participants. He indicated that he did not wish to be drawn into the technical aspects of the debate about climate change, but to express his sympathies for those who work to protect earth's resources. His own focus, he said, would be "about creation and about our responsibility for creation."

Regarding the struggles of the Anglican Church, Pope Benedict said that he would pray for the Anglican bishops meeting in the Lambeth Conference later this month. He said that the Vatican did not wish to interfere in the affairs of the Anglican communion, but hoped that the Lambeth Conference could find a way to "avoid schisms and splits" by means of solutions "that also are faithful to the Gospel."

In answer to a question about his hopes for the visit to Sydney, the Pope said that he recognized the strong influence of secularism in Australia. He said that his goal would be to encourage people-- and especially the young participants in World Youth Day-- to act as evangelists, taking up the duty of Christians to spread the faith.

The Gospel message will always find an audience, even in a thoroughly secularized modern society, the Pope said. He explained: "God is in the human heart and can never disappear."