Sexual abuse caused 'indescribable pain' - Pope

Pope Benedict, celebrating a stadium Mass for 45,000 people, yesterday acknowledged that the US paedophile priests scandal had caused "indescribable pain and harm" to victims but asked Catholics to love their pastors.

For the third consecutive day of his trip to the US, Pope Benedict mentioned the scandal that rocked the Church in 2002 and cost US dioceses $2 billion in damages, demonstrating his resolve to deal with the issue and make sure it does not happen again.

"No words of mine can describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse," he said in the sermon of a Mass at Nationals Park, a new stadium hosting its first non-baseball event. Advertisements flanking the scoreboard were covered by US flags. A large yellow and white Papal flag fluttered in left field and a Papal seal covered home plate as the Pope said Mass from an altar platform in centre field.

Pope Benedict, who arrived in Washington on Tuesday on his first visit to the US as Pontiff, said the Mass as music from cultures and languages of America's melting pot played.

"It is important that those who have suffered be given loving pastoral attention. Nor can I adequately describe the damage that has occurred within the community of the Church," he said during Mass.

But he said great efforts had been made to deal "honestly and fairly" with the aftermath of the scandal, which broke when it was discovered that priests who had abused children were transferred instead of being defrocked or turned over to police.

Speaking from a towering white and gold altar platform, the Pope asked US Catholics to foster healing and reconciliation with victims and added: "Also, I ask you to love your priests, and to affirm them in the excellent work that they do".

The Church's position has always been that an extremely small number of priests - less than one per cent - were abusers while the overwhelming majority were faithful to their vocation and protected children.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, issued a statement before the Mass, saying they wanted more action from the Pope.

"Despite twice making brief remarks about the church's ongoing child sex abuse and cover up scandal, we've still seen no action. Not one child is safer today because of what the Pope said," said Barbara Dorris of SNAP.

Bill Fay, a Catholic from Rockville, Maryland who attended the Mass, said the scandal had not shaken his faith and that he decided to keep his children in Catholic schools. But he was critical of the way the Church handled the crisis.

"They did a fairly good job of attempting to sweep it under the rug," he told Reuters at the Mass.