Pope Benedict XVI admitted to world cardinals that he led a "wounded and sinner" Church, as he marked five tumultuous years in charge, most recently mired in paedophile priest scandals.
The Pontiff "evoked the sins of the Church," describing it as "wounded and sinner" to some 50 cardinals gathered for his anniversary, the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano said on Monday.
He "feels very strongly that he is not alone," the paper reported the Pontiff as saying, he "has at his sides the whole college of cardinals who are sharing with him vicissitudes and reassurance".
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi defended the embattled pope, telling Radio Vatican the priorities Benedict had defined after his election were being "pursued with coherence and courage" despite "tensions" and "obstacles".
Waves of allegations sweeping the Church in Europe and the Americas had also been the backdrop to a tearful meeting between the Pope and abuse victims on Sunday in Malta, one of the latest countries to be hit by sex abuse scandals.
In his third meeting with victims of child-molesting priests - the other two were during trips to Australia and the US in 2008 - Pope Benedict expressed his "shame and sorrow" over the scourge.
Lawrence Grech, one of eight Maltese abuse victims who met the Pope, said: "He listened to us individually, and prayed and cried with us."
Little fanfare accompanied the Pope's five-year milestone.
At a gathering of religious officials in Jerusalem, the head of the Pontifical Institute of Notre-Dame, Juan Solana, said "this year the Holy Father is attacked and his Church too".
But while the Vatican and senior bishops have rallied around the Pope, he has come under increasing pressure over allegations that the Vatican hierarchy, himself included, helped protect predator priests.
The paedophilia crisis has also shifted the focus away from other flashpoints that have marked Pope Benedict's papacy so far.
The Pope found himself in his first full-blown crisis in September 2006.
In a speech he appeared to endorse the view of an obscure 14th-century Byzantine emperor that Islam is inherently violent, provoking outrage in the Muslim world.
It is with Judaism, however, that Pope Benedict has had the most frequent brushes, notably when he lifted the excommunication of traditionalist bishop Richard Williamson, who has insisted that there were no Nazi gas chambers.
In 2008, Pope Benedict allowed the revival of a Good Friday prayer "for the conversion of the Jews," which had been thrown out by Vatican II in the 1960s.
Catholic-Jewish relations im-proved with a series of fence-mending statements and gestures by the Vatican and the Pontiff, notably his trip to Israel in May last year during which he prayed at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall.
But in December, Jewish leaders reacted furiously when the pope moved his World War II-era predecessor Pope Pius XII a step closer to sainthood with a decree bestowing the title "venerable".
Some historians have criticised Pius' silence during the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
Recent ill-advised remarks by officials close to the German Pontiff on the paedophilia priest scandals have further undermined the Vatican's relations both with Jews and gay rights campaigners
Early this month the Pope's personal preacher evoked a parallel between anti-Semitism and the drumbeat of criticism against the Church for its handling of the paedophilia crisis.
And Pope Benedict's right-hand man, Cardinal Tercisio Bertone, sparked worldwide condemnation by linking paedophilia and homosexuality.
Vatican watcher John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter said: "In terms of business management, this pontificate goes from one crisis to the other."
And even as the pope marked his five years in power, there were fresh developments in one scandal concerning alleged paedophile priests in Brazil.
An 84-year-old Brazilian priest apparently caught on camera in a sex act with a choirboy - in footage broadcast on Brazilian television last month - has been arrested, police in northeast Brazil said.
Two other priests also implicated in alleged pedophilia by three former choirboys speaking in the same video were also under investigation.