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By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

As Pope Benedict XVI and the leaders of the Catholic church in Australia struggle to focus on the future, in the form of World Youth Day celebrations currently underway in Sydney, it’s proving increasingly difficult for them to get beyond the past.

Specifically, the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the church in Australia, as in other parts of the world, are once again making headlines, reminding the pope and his local host, Cardinal George Pell, of a dark chapter in recent church history – and, occasionally, eliciting a testy response from church spokespersons.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

In his first public act since arriving in Sydney on Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI today praised Australia’s efforts to reconcile with its indigenous population, saying it offers “hope to peoples all over the world who long to see their rights affirmed and their contribution to society acknowledged and promoted.”

At roughly 10:00 am in Sydney, Benedict visited Government House, the official residence of the governor of New South Wales. The pope was greeted by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

Novelty was in the air in Sydney tonight, as Pope Benedict XVI kicked off his first-ever trip Down Under by arriving in Sydney harbor aboard a cruise ship, accompanied by a 13-vessel “boat-a-cade.” (To date, the only other time Benedict XVI has initiated a foreign trip with a boat ride was also during a World Youth Day, in Cologne in 2005.)

Among other departures, this may well have been the first time that Benedict XVI, a notoriously music-loving pope, was serenaded by a didgeridoo – an aboriginal instrument, made from a termite-hollowed bamboo or eucalyptus limb.