Francis intervenes on the report published beyond the Alps, greeting the French-speaking faithful at the general audience: to the priests he assures closeness and paternal support “in the face of this test which is hard, but it is healthy”
VATICAN CITY. “This is the time of shame.” Pope Francis commented this way the results of an independent commission that found that in the French Church, between 1950 and 2020, between 2,900 and 3,200 priests sexually abused a number of at least 216,000 victims.
“Yesterday the episcopal conference and the conference of French men and women religious received the report of the independent Commission on sexual abuse in the Church (Ciase) in charge of evaluating the extent of the phenomenon of assaults and sexual violence committed against minors from 1950 onwards . Unfortunately, this results in considerable numbers, ”said Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he greeted the French-speaking faithful present at the Wednesday general audience in the Vatican. “I wish to express to the victims my sadness, my pain for the traumas they have suffered and also my shame, our shame, my shame for the too long inability of the Church to put them at the center of her concerns by assuring them of my prayers. . And I pray, we all pray together: to you Lord the glory to us the shame. This is the time of shame. I encourage the bishops, religious superiors and you dear brothers to share this moment and to continue making all efforts so that similar tragedies do not happen again. I express my closeness and paternal support to the French priests in the face of this test, which is hard but healthy. I invite French Catholics – the Pope concluded – to assume their responsibilities to ensure that the Church is a safe home for all ».
During the audience, Francis continued a cycle of catechesis dedicated to the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians, focusing today on the concept of freedom: the Apostle, the Pope said, “could not bear that those Christians, after having known and accepted the truth of Christ, let themselves be attracted by deceptive proposals, passing from freedom to slavery: from the liberating presence of Jesus to the slavery of sin, of legalism and so on. Even today many Christians take refuge in legalism, in casuistry ». Paul “therefore invites Christians to remain steadfast in the freedom they received with baptism, without allowing themselves to be put again under the” yoke of slavery “. Paul is rightly jealous of freedom. He is aware that some “false brothers” have crept into the community to “spy on – so he writes – our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us”, and he cannot tolerate it ». The Apostle proposes the teaching of Jesus, which we also find in the Gospel of John: “If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples; you will know the truth and the truth will make you free ». For this reason, the Argentine Pontiff said, “the Christian is free, he must be free, he must not go back to being slaves to precepts and strange things”. But, he warned, “the truth of the faith is not an abstract theory, but the reality of the living Christ, which directly touches the daily and overall meaning of personal life. How many people who have not studied and cannot read or write – he underlined – have understood the message of Christ well and have this wisdom of Christ entered into the Holy Spirit with baptism, how many people who live the life of Christ more than the great theologians, testimony of the freedom of the Gospel “. Freedom “frees up to the extent that it transforms a person’s life and directs it towards the good”. Freedom, again, “must worry us, it must continually ask us questions, so that we can go deeper and deeper into what we really are. In this way we discover that the path of truth and freedom is a tiring journey that lasts a lifetime. It is tiring to remain free, but it is not impossible ». It is “a journey in which the Love that comes from the Cross guides and sustains us: the Love that reveals the truth to us and gives us freedom. And this is the path to happiness. Freedom makes us free, makes us joyful, makes us happy ».
The faithful who participated in the general audience this morning were not asked for the “green pass” despite the fact that from 1 October it became mandatory to enter the papal state. The Wednesday audience, Vatican sources explain, is comparable to liturgical celebrations, for which the relative Vatican ordinance effectively establishes an exception to this obligation.
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Francis intervenes on the report published beyond the Alps, greeting the French-speaking faithful at the general audience: to the priests he assures closeness and paternal support “in the face of this test which is hard, but it is healthy”
VATICAN CITY. “This is the time of shame.” Pope Francis commented this way the results of an independent commission that found that in the French Church, between 1950 and 2020, between 2,900 and 3,200 priests sexually abused a number of at least 216,000 victims.
“Yesterday the episcopal conference and the conference of French men and women religious received the report of the independent Commission on sexual abuse in the Church (Ciase) in charge of evaluating the extent of the phenomenon of assaults and sexual violence committed against minors from 1950 onwards . Unfortunately, this results in considerable numbers, ”said Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he greeted the French-speaking faithful present at the Wednesday general audience in the Vatican. “I wish to express to the victims my sadness, my pain for the traumas they have suffered and also my shame, our shame, my shame for the too long inability of the Church to put them at the center of her concerns by assuring them of my prayers. . And I pray, we all pray together: to you Lord the glory to us the shame. This is the time of shame. I encourage the bishops, religious superiors and you dear brothers to share this moment and to continue making all efforts so that similar tragedies do not happen again. I express my closeness and paternal support to the French priests in the face of this test, which is hard but healthy. I invite French Catholics – the Pope concluded – to assume their responsibilities to ensure that the Church is a safe home for all ».
During the audience, Francis continued a cycle of catechesis dedicated to the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians, focusing today on the concept of freedom: the Apostle, the Pope said, “could not bear that those Christians, after having known and accepted the truth of Christ, let themselves be attracted by deceptive proposals, passing from freedom to slavery: from the liberating presence of Jesus to the slavery of sin, of legalism and so on. Even today many Christians take refuge in legalism, in casuistry ». Paul “therefore invites Christians to remain steadfast in the freedom they received with baptism, without allowing themselves to be put again under the” yoke of slavery “. Paul is rightly jealous of freedom. He is aware that some “false brothers” have crept into the community to “spy on – so he writes – our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us”, and he cannot tolerate it ». The Apostle proposes the teaching of Jesus, which we also find in the Gospel of John: “If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples; you will know the truth and the truth will make you free ». For this reason, the Argentine Pontiff said, “the Christian is free, he must be free, he must not go back to being slaves to precepts and strange things”. But, he warned, “the truth of the faith is not an abstract theory, but the reality of the living Christ, which directly touches the daily and overall meaning of personal life. How many people who have not studied and cannot read or write – he underlined – have understood the message of Christ well and have this wisdom of Christ entered into the Holy Spirit with baptism, how many people who live the life of Christ more than the great theologians, testimony of the freedom of the Gospel “. Freedom “frees up to the extent that it transforms a person’s life and directs it towards the good”. Freedom, again, “must worry us, it must continually ask us questions, so that we can go deeper and deeper into what we really are. In this way we discover that the path of truth and freedom is a tiring journey that lasts a lifetime. It is tiring to remain free, but it is not impossible ». It is “a journey in which the Love that comes from the Cross guides and sustains us: the Love that reveals the truth to us and gives us freedom. And this is the path to happiness. Freedom makes us free, makes us joyful, makes us happy ».
The faithful who participated in the general audience this morning were not asked for the “green pass” despite the fact that from 1 October it became mandatory to enter the papal state. The Wednesday audience, Vatican sources explain, is comparable to liturgical celebrations, for which the relative Vatican ordinance effectively establishes an exception to this obligation.
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Francis intervenes on the report published beyond the Alps, greeting the French-speaking faithful at the general audience: to the priests he assures closeness and paternal support “in the face of this test which is hard, but it is healthy”
VATICAN CITY. “This is the time of shame.” Pope Francis commented this way the results of an independent commission that found that in the French Church, between 1950 and 2020, between 2,900 and 3,200 priests sexually abused a number of at least 216,000 victims.
“Yesterday the episcopal conference and the conference of French men and women religious received the report of the independent Commission on sexual abuse in the Church (Ciase) in charge of evaluating the extent of the phenomenon of assaults and sexual violence committed against minors from 1950 onwards . Unfortunately, this results in considerable numbers, ”said Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he greeted the French-speaking faithful present at the Wednesday general audience in the Vatican. “I wish to express to the victims my sadness, my pain for the traumas they have suffered and also my shame, our shame, my shame for the too long inability of the Church to put them at the center of her concerns by assuring them of my prayers. . And I pray, we all pray together: to you Lord the glory to us the shame. This is the time of shame. I encourage the bishops, religious superiors and you dear brothers to share this moment and to continue making all efforts so that similar tragedies do not happen again. I express my closeness and paternal support to the French priests in the face of this test, which is hard but healthy. I invite French Catholics – the Pope concluded – to assume their responsibilities to ensure that the Church is a safe home for all ».
During the audience, Francis continued a cycle of catechesis dedicated to the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians, focusing today on the concept of freedom: the Apostle, the Pope said, “could not bear that those Christians, after having known and accepted the truth of Christ, let themselves be attracted by deceptive proposals, passing from freedom to slavery: from the liberating presence of Jesus to the slavery of sin, of legalism and so on. Even today many Christians take refuge in legalism, in casuistry ». Paul “therefore invites Christians to remain steadfast in the freedom they received with baptism, without allowing themselves to be put again under the” yoke of slavery “. Paul is rightly jealous of freedom. He is aware that some “false brothers” have crept into the community to “spy on – so he writes – our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us”, and he cannot tolerate it ». The Apostle proposes the teaching of Jesus, which we also find in the Gospel of John: “If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples; you will know the truth and the truth will make you free ». For this reason, the Argentine Pontiff said, “the Christian is free, he must be free, he must not go back to being slaves to precepts and strange things”. But, he warned, “the truth of the faith is not an abstract theory, but the reality of the living Christ, which directly touches the daily and overall meaning of personal life. How many people who have not studied and cannot read or write – he underlined – have understood the message of Christ well and have this wisdom of Christ entered into the Holy Spirit with baptism, how many people who live the life of Christ more than the great theologians, testimony of the freedom of the Gospel “. Freedom “frees up to the extent that it transforms a person’s life and directs it towards the good”. Freedom, again, “must worry us, it must continually ask us questions, so that we can go deeper and deeper into what we really are. In this way we discover that the path of truth and freedom is a tiring journey that lasts a lifetime. It is tiring to remain free, but it is not impossible ». It is “a journey in which the Love that comes from the Cross guides and sustains us: the Love that reveals the truth to us and gives us freedom. And this is the path to happiness. Freedom makes us free, makes us joyful, makes us happy ».
The faithful who participated in the general audience this morning were not asked for the “green pass” despite the fact that from 1 October it became mandatory to enter the papal state. The Wednesday audience, Vatican sources explain, is comparable to liturgical celebrations, for which the relative Vatican ordinance effectively establishes an exception to this obligation.
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Francis intervenes on the report published beyond the Alps, greeting the French-speaking faithful at the general audience: to the priests he assures closeness and paternal support “in the face of this test which is hard, but it is healthy”
VATICAN CITY. “This is the time of shame.” Pope Francis commented this way the results of an independent commission that found that in the French Church, between 1950 and 2020, between 2,900 and 3,200 priests sexually abused a number of at least 216,000 victims.
“Yesterday the episcopal conference and the conference of French men and women religious received the report of the independent Commission on sexual abuse in the Church (Ciase) in charge of evaluating the extent of the phenomenon of assaults and sexual violence committed against minors from 1950 onwards . Unfortunately, this results in considerable numbers, ”said Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he greeted the French-speaking faithful present at the Wednesday general audience in the Vatican. “I wish to express to the victims my sadness, my pain for the traumas they have suffered and also my shame, our shame, my shame for the too long inability of the Church to put them at the center of her concerns by assuring them of my prayers. . And I pray, we all pray together: to you Lord the glory to us the shame. This is the time of shame. I encourage the bishops, religious superiors and you dear brothers to share this moment and to continue making all efforts so that similar tragedies do not happen again. I express my closeness and paternal support to the French priests in the face of this test, which is hard but healthy. I invite French Catholics – the Pope concluded – to assume their responsibilities to ensure that the Church is a safe home for all ».
During the audience, Francis continued a cycle of catechesis dedicated to the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians, focusing today on the concept of freedom: the Apostle, the Pope said, “could not bear that those Christians, after having known and accepted the truth of Christ, let themselves be attracted by deceptive proposals, passing from freedom to slavery: from the liberating presence of Jesus to the slavery of sin, of legalism and so on. Even today many Christians take refuge in legalism, in casuistry ». Paul “therefore invites Christians to remain steadfast in the freedom they received with baptism, without allowing themselves to be put again under the” yoke of slavery “. Paul is rightly jealous of freedom. He is aware that some “false brothers” have crept into the community to “spy on – so he writes – our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us”, and he cannot tolerate it ». The Apostle proposes the teaching of Jesus, which we also find in the Gospel of John: “If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples; you will know the truth and the truth will make you free ». For this reason, the Argentine Pontiff said, “the Christian is free, he must be free, he must not go back to being slaves to precepts and strange things”. But, he warned, “the truth of the faith is not an abstract theory, but the reality of the living Christ, which directly touches the daily and overall meaning of personal life. How many people who have not studied and cannot read or write – he underlined – have understood the message of Christ well and have this wisdom of Christ entered into the Holy Spirit with baptism, how many people who live the life of Christ more than the great theologians, testimony of the freedom of the Gospel “. Freedom “frees up to the extent that it transforms a person’s life and directs it towards the good”. Freedom, again, “must worry us, it must continually ask us questions, so that we can go deeper and deeper into what we really are. In this way we discover that the path of truth and freedom is a tiring journey that lasts a lifetime. It is tiring to remain free, but it is not impossible ». It is “a journey in which the Love that comes from the Cross guides and sustains us: the Love that reveals the truth to us and gives us freedom. And this is the path to happiness. Freedom makes us free, makes us joyful, makes us happy ».
The faithful who participated in the general audience this morning were not asked for the “green pass” despite the fact that from 1 October it became mandatory to enter the papal state. The Wednesday audience, Vatican sources explain, is comparable to liturgical celebrations, for which the relative Vatican ordinance effectively establishes an exception to this obligation.
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