By Barbie Dutter in Sydney Last Updated: 1:58AM BST 21 Jul 2008  In his most strongly-worded statement yet on the crisis that has engulfed the church globally, Pope Benedict XVI strayed from a prepared homily to castigate abusive clergy and other Catholic personnel for their crimes.  "I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured, and I assure them that, as their pastor, I too share in their suffering," he said during a mass in Sydney, where he has spent the past week for World Youth Day celebrations.  "These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation. They have caused great pain and damaged the church's witness.  "Victims should receive compassion and care and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice."  It is not the first time the Pope has acknowledged publicly the abuse of children by Catholic priests, but goes further than previous statements by making a specific apology and stating clearly that the perpetrators must be punished.  But victims' families and support groups in Australia were dissatisfied, saying a sweeping papal apology fell far short of the action needed to secure justice for those who had suffered.  Anthony Foster, whose two daughters were raped by a Catholic priest while they were at primary school in Melbourne in the 1980s, said: "They are only words. It doesn't commit the resources of the church to the problem."  Mr Foster and his wife, Christine, cut short a holiday in Britain to return to Australia this week, hoping for a private audience with the pontiff.  Their eldest daughter, Emma, committed suicide earlier this year at the age of 26, while her sister Katherine, who was also raped, became a heavy drinker and was left disabled after being struck by a car in 1999.  "What we are very concerned about is the lack of practical help for the victims," Mr Foster said. "The practical response needs to include both financial help and psychological help."  The Fosters waged an eight-year legal battle to secure compensation from the Church, finally settling out of court. The priest who assaulted their daughters, Kevin O'Donnell, died 10 years ago in prison after pleading guilty to numerous sex offences against children over three decades.  One support group, Broken Rites, said that while there had been 107 convictions for abuse by Catholic priests and religious brothers in Australia, the real number of victims was likely to be many thousands as only a few cases reach court.  "Sorry may be a start but we want to see a lot more," said Chris MacIsaac, the group's president. "We want the victims to be treated fairly, we don't want them to feel that they have been shut out, we don't want them to be re-abused by church authorities."  Dr Bernard Barrett, a research consultant for Broken Rites, said it was “deeply insulting” that no victims had been present at the mass when the apology was made.  "It would have been so much more compassionate and powerful if some victims had been there,” he told The Sunday Telegraph. “We are not talking about 1,000 or even 100, but perhaps 10 people who have suffered abuse.”  Instead, he added, the apology was made at a mass attended mainly by priests and seminarians, while a small group of victims were forced to stand outside the gates of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.  “The whole thing is being controlled by spin doctors, lawyers and accountants,” Dr Barrett said. “It’s got nothing to do with God or the New Testament or the Virgin Mary.”  The Pope's apology cleared the decks for the climax of World Youth Day, a papal mass on Sunday in front of up to half a million pilgrims at a racecourse in central Sydney.  Sydney Harbour Bridge was closed to traffic as young Catholics from around the world streamed across on foot, making the 5.5-mile trek to Royal Randwick Racecourse where they were to join the Pope for a two-hour vigil before camping out overnight.
The Pope issued a powerful apology to victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, damning paedophile priests for their