Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday apologised explicitly for the first time to victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergy, expressing his shame and calling for perpetrators of the "evil" to be brought to justice. The pope strayed from his prepared speech to add a direct and full apology for sex abuse in the Australian church, using some of his strongest language yet on the scourge that has rocked the Catholic Church globally. "Here I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this country," he said at a mass for Australian clergy in Sydney.