From the New York Times

“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.

But victims’ groups criticized him for not meeting the victims face to face.

Cardinal Pell, speaking to the media after the left, said that Monday’s Mass was not a response to the criticism.

“This had been organized over a number of weeks,” he said, adding that the group had been chosen by the Professional Standards Office, which was set up to coordinate the Australian Catholic Church’s Towards Healing program, which is addressing the issue of sexual abuse.

Chris MacIsaac, the president of Broken Rites, a support group for victims of sexual abuse said the victims were still not satisfied.

“I rejoice with these victims to got to go to Mass with the pope, but I feel heartfelt sorrow for all those others who still feel they are outside the church,” she said in a telephone interview.

She said she was suspicious that the group that attended Mass with the pope had been selected because they had not spoken out publicly and added that she believed the church was unwilling to engage with those who went public with their complaints.

“The main reason they have been ostracized is that they have chosen to speak out,” she said.

Irish victims of Catholic sex abuse are trying to block any visit by Cardinal George Pell intended to help end paedophilia cover-ups within the clergy there.

A group in Ireland called Child Aware, headed by Hanora Brennan, has written to every member of the Irish lower house, or Dail, to protest against Cardinal Pell having any role in the plan.

Ms Brennan has also requested a meeting with Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin, to argue that Cardinal Pell, Sydney's Archbishop and Australia's most senior Catholic clergyman, should not be allowed to visit on behalf of the Vatican.

This week separate rumours have swirled on Catholic blogs and in an Italian newspaper that he has been appointed to a Vatican position as head of the Congregation for Bishops, the committee that appoints bishops. The post would start in August.

Ms Brennan told the Herald: ''We are trying to have this man stopped coming to Ireland to check whether all the dioceses in this country should be investigated.

''Most of the denizens hereabouts would be interested in the whole country being investigated, but not by this man. There are too many questions that need to be answered.''

Ms Brennan believes Cardinal Pell's handling of clerical sexual abuse in Australia has been inadequate. She said he had ''accompanied paedophiles to court''.

In 1993, Cardinal Pell gave ''moral support'' to former priest Gerald Ridsdale at a Melbourne court appearance on paedophile charges. He was convicted of numerous child sex offences and remains in jail. Cardinal Pell has denied all knowledge of Ridsdale's activities before his conviction.

Keep out Pell, say Irish sex victims

meanwhile, in a different test of relevance .....

The controversial trial of secular ethics classes has ''decimated'' Protestant scripture classes in the 10 NSW schools where it has been introduced as an alternative for non-religious children, with the classes losing about 47 per cent of enrolled students.

The figure was calculated by the Sydney Anglican diocese, which is so concerned about the trial that it has created a fund-raising website to ''protect SRE'' (special religious education). The website says the values underpinning ''Australia's moral framework'' are under threat.

The website, created by Youthworks, a department of the diocese, says the objective of the ethics trial is ''to not only remove Jesus Christ from the state school system, but from the consciousness and hearts of the next generation''.

''If we lose religious education, we risk losing true, fundamental 'ethics' that have underpinned Australia's moral framework for hundreds of years,'' the website says.

Scripture classes lose half of students to ethics, say Anglicans