Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
July 12, 2008

Pope Leaves for Australia to Celebrate World Youth Day 
-------------------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1D2F455:A6F02AD83191E160BA85E8C9A06384A2F47489ACC27D21EE&
 
Benedict XVI says he is filled with great desire to meet youth of entire
world to exhort them to become courageous witnesses of love of Christ 
Pope Benedict XVI waves before embarking, Rome's Fiumicino airport, 17
Jul 2008Pope Benedict left Rome Saturday for Australia, where he will
join hundreds of thousands of young people celebrating World Youth
Day.The pope told reporters that he would use his 10-day pilgrimage to
Australia to offer apologies to victims of sexual abuse by priests, as
he did during his recent trip to the United States.He called such abuse
"incompatible" with behavior required of priests.In a telegram to
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano just before leaving, the pope said
he was filled with a great desire to meet the youth of the entire world
to exhort them to become courageous witnesses of the love of Christ.The
pope will arrive in Darwin, Australia on Sunday.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


.