With 10 weeks to go until Pope Benedict XVI is officially welcomed to Sydney, there is growing pressure on him to apologise for sexual and physical abuse carried out over the years by Catholic priests. The Pope will be visiting Australia for the first time and his main mission is to preside over Catholic World Youth Day.
Electronic message boards on many of Sydney's main roads are counting down the days until World Youth Day hits the harbour city.
But for some critics of the Catholic Church, time is running out for the Pope to acknowledge some of the sins carried out by priests, particularly to the young and the vulnerable.
Spokesman for the activist group Broken Rites, Dr Wayne Chamley, says Pope Benedict must become informed about the extent of the problem in Australia.
"In regard to the sexual abuse of children, treatment of children in homes that were run by the Catholic Church, it's a far deeper and more horrific story than what happened in the US," he said.
It is reported that some senior bishops in Australia would like to see an official apology from the Pope so that the healing process can begin.
Only last month Benedict XVI told Americans he was truly sorry for what had happened in that country, ackowledging the pain caused by some members of the Catholic Church.
Church officials in Australia say that it would be inappropriate to speculate on what the Pope may or may not say on his World Youth Day visit.
But it is understood there are already talks underway, behind the scenes, between senior Catholics in Rome and Sydney about the issues important to Australian parishioners.
Working against the likelihood of an Australian apology is the fact that the Pope's visit is specially for a world event and not just a visit to a single country.
Dr Chamley says the problem has been consistently "swept under the mat" by the Catholic Church in Australia.
"The bishops in Australia have not been prepared to respond to this issue. Instead of moving on paedophile priests, they simply moved them around from parish to parish, and the priests went on carrying out their criminal act," he said.
"The Pope doesn't have any idea of that."
He says he is hopeful that if the right information is given to Pope Benedict then the pontiff will be prepared to make peace with Australian victims of abuse.
"There's just not been any communication of a constant nature to the Vatican saying there's a real problem in Australia and we need the Pope to act on this," he said.
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