Pope blames abuse scandal on church's sins

The Roman Catholic clerical abuse scandal was born from sins inside the church, Pope Benedict XVI said en route to Portugal on Tuesday.

Calling it "the greatest persecution of the church," he called for pardon and justice, as well as profound purification and penance within the church.

"Today we see it in a truly terrifying way," Benedict said of the church's internal trouble.

Benedict was travelling to Portugal from Rome to speak about Europe's economic crisis and urge Europeans to uphold Christian values and seek solace in their faith.

At the start of his four-day visit, the pontiff was scheduled to celebrate an open-air mass for 80,000 people at a 16th-century riverside square in Lisbon.

He will speak about "the joy of faith and hope" as a remedy for the gloom of financial hardship, said Carlos Azevedo, auxiliary bishop of Lisbon. "The moral values guiding the economy and politics show that there is a spiritual crisis," Azevedo told a news conference Monday, adding: "Europe needs to be awoken."

Benedict has been alert to social problems caused by the economic crisis, and the timing of his visit isespecially apt in Portugal western Europe's poorest country andone of the main casualties of the continent's economic troubles.

'A message of hope'

The pontiff will convey "a message of hope which says it is possible, if we are guided by ethical and spiritual values, to find paths to a new future," Azevedosaid.

On Wednesday, Benedict will go to the famous Catholic shrine at Fatima in central Portugal.

Benedict is also expected to addressEurope's drift away from church teachings on key issues.

Azevedo said the pope is seeking"to awaken slumbering Christians and also, to some extent, a Europe whose values have become somewhat decadent, to different values."

No cases have been reported in Portugal of physical or sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy allegations that have rocked the church in other countries.

Portugal is nominally nearly 90 per cent Catholic, but only about two million of the country's 10.6 million people describe themselves as practising the Catholic faith.