SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - The archbishops of Melbourne and Sydney on Thursday apologized to Australian sexual abuse victims of the Catholic Church.
The apology comes after claims Sydney Archbishop George Pell tried to buy the silence of sex abuse victims when he was bishop of the city of Ballarat in the 1990s.
In the written apology, Pell and Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart said their goal was to move "towards healing".
"On behalf of the Catholic Church in Melbourne and Sydney, and personally, we apologize, sincerely and unreservedly, to all victims of abuse, and to the Australian community, for the wrongs and hurt suffered," the Church leaders said.
The apology also said the "integrity of the overwhelming majority of priests" was beyond question and urged victims to contact the church for assistance.
Pell has this week refused calls from child abuse support groups to resign over allegations that in the last 11 years he has offered money to three people to keep quiet about their sexual abuse by two priests.
Pell said on a current affairs program Sunday night that he offered a family $28,000 in exchange for a promise not to sue over claims that their two daughters were sexually abused for six years by a priest beginning in 1987, when the younger girl was 5 years old.
But Pell says the church has attached no confidentiality requirements to compensation offers.