Francisco’s recommendation during the meeting with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors: “It is not fair that victims and families suffer in silence outside the most prosperous areas, perhaps rejected or stigmatized when they try to get closer to tell what they suffered “. The call to cultivate a “spirituality of reparation” by listening to those who have been hurt.
Vatican City () – In the Church, the inequalities between the different areas of the world must be overcome regarding care for the suffering of minors who are victims of sexual abuse. This was stated today by Pope Francis, referring specifically to Asia, Africa and Latin America, when receiving in audience in the Vatican the members of the renewed Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
“It is not fair – said the pontiff – that the most prosperous areas of the planet can count on well-formed and well-financed protection programs, in which the victims and their families are respected, while those who live in other parts of the world suffer in silence, perhaps rejected or stigmatized when they try to get close to recounting the abuses they suffered. Also in this area, the Church must strive to become an example of acceptance and good conduct”. In this sense, the Pope said he was encouraged by the complaints that the Commission prepared “in terms of training and service to victims” also in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Previously in his speech, Pope Francis had recognized that “the sexual abuse of minors by the clergy and its mismanagement by ecclesiastical officials has been one of the greatest challenges for the Church in our time. The inability to act appropriately to stop this evil and come to the aid of its victims has disfigured our very testimony of God’s love”. He also added that “in the last ten years we have all learned a lot, including myself.”
Along with the measures to deal with the repetition of this phenomenon, Francis also indicated another horizon to the Commission, which he defined as “a spirituality of reparation.” “The terrible sense of loss felt by so many because of abuse – he said – can sometimes seem too difficult to bear. But the Lord, who gives birth to new things in every age, can bring life back to withered bones (cf. Ez 37,6) For this reason, even when the road ahead is arduous and exhausting, I encourage you not to stagnate, to continue reaching out, to try to instill confidence in those you meet and to share this cause with you. Don’t get discouraged when it seems that little is changing for the better.
But, evidently, the reparation must contemplate above all the victims. “Recently,” the Pope recounted, “I met with a group of survivors of abuse who asked to meet with the leadership of the religious institute that ran the school they attended some 50 years ago. They were all elderly and some of them were aware of the rapid As time passed, they expressed the desire to live the last years of their lives in peace. And peace, for them, meant resuming their relationship with the Church that had offended them; they wanted to close not only the evil they had suffered, but also the They had questions they had had inside for a long time. They wanted to be heard, to be believed, they wanted someone to help them understand. We talked together and they had the courage to open up. In particular, the daughter of one of the abused spoke of the impact the experience of his father he had throughout his family. Repairing the torn fabric of history is a redemptive act, it is the act of the Suffering Servant, who did not avoid pain, but took upon himself all guilt”.
“Now – observed Pope Francis – is the time to repair the damage that was done to the generations that preceded us and to those who continue to suffer. This Easter season is a sign that a new time is preparing for us, a new spring fertilized by the work and tears shared with those who have suffered. That is why it is important that we never stop moving forward.” “From the ordinary life of a diocese in its parishes and seminary”, Francis concluded, “to the formation of catechists, teachers and other pastoral agents, the importance of the protection of minors and frail people must be a norm for all And in this sense, in religious and apostolic life, the cloistered novice must abide by the same ministerial norms as the elderly brother who has spent a lifetime teaching the young”.
