“There is no place in the church for covering up abuse. Bishops, don’t cover up abuse.” The Pope, speaking off the cuff at mass in the stadium in Brussels, once again condemns sexual abuse in the Church. He does so with unequivocal words which are welcomed with thunderous applause by the faithful.
“I felt the suffering of the abused people I met the day before yesterday – Bergoglio said off the cuff, recalling the meeting with 17 victims of abuse -. In the Church there is room for everyone, there is no place for covering up abuse. Bishops , don’t cover up abuse. Condemn abusers and help them heal from the disease of abuse. Evil must be brought out into the open. Let the abuser be judged.”
Belgium, on the occasion of the Pope’s speech before the authorities on the first day of the trip, asked for an account of the pedophilia scandal in the Church, and through Prime Minister De Croo asked the Pope for “concrete steps, not words”. Bergoglio once again made mea culpa for the abuse defined as a “crime”, a “shame, a humiliation” asking for forgiveness. Then the meeting with seventeen victims of abuse during which the Pope took note of the requests of the victims who ask for justice also in terms of compensation.
Bergoglio returned to the scandal of abuse in the Church this morning during mass in the stadium, with extensive off-the-cuff passages: “Let’s think about when little ones are scandalized, hit, abused by those who should take care of them. To the wounds of the little ones, but also of their families and their communities. I return to the stories of some of these little ones I met the day before yesterday. I heard them, I felt their suffering as abused people. In the Church there is room for everyone, but we will all be judged. And there is no place for abuse, for the cover-up of abuse.”
“I ask everyone not to cover up the abuse – the appeal -. I ask the bishops not to cover up the abuse, to condemn the abuse and to help them heal from this disease of abuse. Evil cannot be hidden, evil must be brought out into the open; let it be known, as some abused people have courageously done, let the abuser be known and judged, whether he is a layman, a laywoman, a priest or a bishop. Abused people are a lament that touches the sky. Their voice should not be covered by indifference. Abuse is an abuse of power, of conscience. And how many abuses of power we have in our society”, he said to the applause of the faithful in the stadium.
The cry of pain: “Time marked by painful scandals”
We live “in a time marked by painful scandals, inside and outside the Christian community”, the Pope’s cry of pain who invites the faithful to look at the testimony of Anna of Jesus, the barefoot Spanish Carmelite nun beatified during the celebration.
“In a time marked by painful scandals, inside and outside the Christian community, she and her companions – observes Francis – with their simple and poor life, made up of prayer, work and charity, have been able to bring many back to the faith people, to the point that someone defined their foundation in this city as a ‘spiritual magnet'”.
“By choice – says the Pontiff – he left no writings. Instead, she committed herself to putting into practice what she had learned and with her way of life she contributed to reviving the Church in a moment of great difficulty. Let us therefore welcome with gratitude the model of “feminine holiness” that she has left us, delicate and strong, made of openness, communion and testimony. Let us recommend ourselves to her prayers, imitate her virtues and renew with her our commitment to walk together in the footsteps of the Lord.”
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