Hundreds of devout Catholics marched through Montreal to observe Good Friday, despite a small group of protestors denouncing the church's sex abuse scandal.

One march for the Stations of the Cross began Friday morning at Notre Dame de Bonsecours Chapel. Worshippers continued to Place Jacques Cartier, Notre Dame Basilica, Victoria Square, St. Patrick Basilica, and Place Ville Marie before finishing at Mary Queen of the World Cathedral.

The progression was organized by a movement within the Catholic Church called Communion and Liberation, who were unfazed by protestors in front of the Notre Dame Basilica.

The group of Duplessis Orphans was demanding an official apology from the Roman Catholic Church.

Since 2002, the orphans have gathered on the church steps on this day to make their case. But with the Vatican under fire amid a growing multinational abuse scandal, they have renewed hope their demands will be heard.

The Church "has been stonewalling the issue for some 30 years," said Carlo Tarini, a spokesman for the group.

"They've been maintaining a wall of silence. It's a scandal and needs to be denounced."

The orphans say they were physically and psychologically abused in church-run institutions during the reign of former premier Maurice Duplessis in the 1940s and '50s.

In 2001, many of them accepted a multi-million-dollar compensation offer from the provincial government.

The settlement worked out to an average of $25,000 per person.

Faith unshaken

For the Catholics observed Good Friday at the basilica, their faith remains intact despite the continuing sex abuse scandal enveloping the church.

"We wish to pray for those victims today, we wish to pray for the church and wish to pray for the pope that he continue to remind the church and the world that sin is terrible, but there is something even stronger than sin," said worshipper John Zucchi.

Pope Benedict XVI has himself become the focus of attention after it was learned that as a German archbishop, he allowed a pedophile priest to undergo therapy in 1980. The priest later resumed working with youths and was sentenced for sex abuse in 1986.

Montreal archbishop Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte says the pope shouldn't be blamed, since he's been working to correct the church's mistakes.

"It's a few priests who did that, unfortunately, and with the campaign, we make suspicion of all the priests. But you know it's less than 4 per cent of the priests who were accused of those things," he said.

The hundreds of Catholics who marched Friday appear to agree.

"Priests are human beings, make mistakes. The church is going to carry on," said one of the devout.

With a report from The Canadian Press