SYDNEY, Australia - Pope Benedict has ended his visit to Australia by meeting with victims of sexual abuse inflicted by Roman Catholic clergy.

He conducted a private mass and spoke with four abuse victims - two men and two women - at a cathedral in Sydney Monday, shortly before leaving Australia.

Two days earlier, the Pope made a forthright apology for the suffering of those maltreated by church officials. The meeting comes on the heels of a similar one in the United States in April.

But the gestures weren't enough for activists in Australia who demand the church must pay reparations for the abuse, accusing church leaders of trying to block compensation claims in the courts.

The Vatican said the meeting lasted for about one hour and was arranged so the Pope could express his "concern for those who have been abused by members of the church."

The victims' identities were kept secret, but, in a statement released to the Australian Broadcasting Corp., two of them said Benedict had "listened closely and was moved" during the meeting, and "was compassionate in his words of consolation to us."

On a trip to the United States in April, Benedict for the first time met privately with a small group of sexual abuse victims, after publicly expressing shame on behalf of the church for the scandal.

The problem of clergy sexual abuse has rocked the church in recent years, and Benedict has sought to address it directly since he became Pope in 2005.

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