SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - Pope Benedict XVI ended his farthest pilgrimage Sunday, one intended to inspire a new generation of faithful while trying to overcome a dark chapter for his church from a clerical sex abuse scandal.

Summing up his message, Benedict told young pilgrims at a Mass in Sydney that a "spiritual desert" is spreading throughout the world and challenged them to shed the greed and cynicism of their time to create a new age of hope.

The Vatican said about 350,000 faithful from almost 170 countries packed the Randwick race track.

Benedict touched on themes for the universal church as well as for Australia in particular -- raising the need for the world to change its lifestyles because of global warming, relations with non-Catholics and the struggle to rejuvenate a crisis-battered Church.

At Sunday's Mass under threatening skies, Benedict urged young Christians to be agents of change because "the world needs renewal."

Before Benedict left Australia today, the Vatican said, he held a Mass with two men and two women who represented victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

On Saturday, Benedict made a forthright public apology to victims of the abuse scandal that has rocked the church in recent years.