“A beautiful letter from Pope Francis in which he speaks as a pastor and as a confrere”
Pope Francis sent a message of support to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI after the Munich dossier on abuse in the Church. Monsignor Georg Gaenswein said: “A beautiful letter from Pope Francis has arrived to Benedict XVI, a letter in which he speaks as a pastor, speaks as a confrere and also speaks as a person who once again expressed his full confidence, his full support and also his prayer ». Monsignor Ganswein, with regard to the accusations against the Pontiff emeritus relating to the period in which he was archbishop of Munich, observes: “If they have evidence they must bring it up but in this case there is no evidence”. Ratzinger’s letter was released yesterday in which he asks for forgiveness from the victims of abuse but he also says he is not a liar. “Ratzinger asked all the victims for forgiveness – reiterated Ganswein -. There is evidence that as a cardinal and then as a pope, Ratzinger did a lot to cleanse the Church internally regarding the scourge of pedophilia “.
The reactions of the Catholic world
An invitation to do more in the fight against abuses: this is how the Catholic world welcomes the words of Joseph Ratzinger who yesterday, in a historic “mea culpa”, asked forgiveness for all the abuses committed by the clergy but also invited, in a sort of “Spiritual testament”, to take on the pain of the victims and their expectation of justice. Meanwhile, Pope Francis has sent a message of support to the Pope Emeritus, said Msgr. Georg Gaenswein in an interview with Tg1: “A beautiful letter from Pope Francis has arrived to Benedict XVI, a letter in which he speaks as a pastor, speaks as a confrere and also speaks as a person who once again expressed his full confidence, the his full support and also his prayers ». And speaking of the Munich report, according to which successive archbishops “could not have been unaware” of the abuses, the personal secretary of the Pope Emeritus replied: “If they have evidence, then they must say” this is proof that you you are really guilty ”, it is not the one who is accused who must prove his innocence. But in this case there is no proof ».
Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia
“Benedict XVI was the first among the popes to denounce this terrible evil”, remembers the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia. “This letter – he added – must remind everyone, of the whole Church but of the whole society because this is a universal plague”. In the same vein, Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, archbishop of Boston and president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, for whom “the testimony of Benedict XVI indicates that the recognition of the irreparable damage caused by the Church and the failure to prevent such damage, represent a challenge for those who occupy positions of responsibility today ». On the other hand, the comments coming from Germany are harsh: “Ratzinger’s declaration is a symptom of the crisis, not a step towards its solution”, writes the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. For the Munich newspaper, the city of the report on abuses in which Benedict XVI was called into question for the years in which he was archbishop there, Ratzinger’s words remain «a disconcerting document. Disconcerting – he writes – because he comes from another world, from a parallel universe, which has little to do with the faithful and much to do with the old structures of power ». There Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung he uses different tones: “Benedict rejects the accusations,” reports the newspaper on the front page. While in an internal commentary we read that that of the Pope Emeritus is more impressive as an existential act than as an act of the Church. The hardest is the Bild: «The former Pope who does not remember his sins, the new one who goes to the talkshows», comments the journalist Franz Josef Wagner. He doesn’t believe Ratzinger’s words either Network The Abuse who for years has been the spokesperson for the victims. “He doesn’t seem sincere to me: apologize also for Italy because there was a case in Savona that he covered up,” says president Francesco Zanardi. The association will promote in the coming days a coordination against abuses in the Catholic Church in Italy: #ItalyChurchToo. Meanwhile, the news arrives that immediate judgment has been ordered for Father Vincenzo Esposito, the 64-year-old priest, originally from Caltavuturo (Palermo) but assigned to the parish of San Feliciano di Magione (Perugia), accused of child prostitution. The priest allegedly asked, upon payment, sexual services from four sixteen-year-olds. Pope Francis, at the general audience, today quoted Ratzinger’s Letter: “He used to say speaking of himself that” he is in front of the dark door of death “. It is nice to thank Pope Benedict who at 95 has the clarity to tell us this: “I am facing the darkness of death, the dark door of death”. A nice piece of advice he gave us! », Bergoglio said.
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