In his closing talk to the Vatican summit for the protection of minors, Pope Francis offered a wide-ranging analysis of the plague of the sexual abuse of minors in the world and the Catholic Church. He committed the church to do everything possible to eradicate it from within the church itself and from society as a whole.
“We are facing a universal problem, tragically present almost everywhere and affecting everyone,” Pope Francis said in a 30-minute talk at the end of Mass, which he celebrated in the Sala Regia, next to the Sistine Chapel, with the patriarchs, cardinals, bishops and priests who had participated in the four-day summit on the protection of minors.
Australian Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane gave the homily at the summit’s closing Mass, saying that like Nicolaus Copernicus’ discovery that the earth revolves around the sun, the church is in need of a “Copernican revolution” where “those who have been abused do not revolve around the church but the church around them.”
“In discovering this, we can begin to see with their eyes and to hear with their ears; and once we do that, the world and the church begin to look quite different,” he said. “This is the necessary conversion, the true revolution and the great grace, which can open for the church a new season of mission.”
The church needs a “Copernican revolution” where “those who have been abused do not revolve around the church but the church around them.”
Pope Francis’ talk surprised media commentators because he did not provide any of “the concrete measures” that he had called for at the beginning of the summit on Feb. 21. Informed sources who participated in the summit, however, told America these would come later through a substantial and sustained follow-up to the summit.
In fact at the conclusion of the summit, Frederico Lombardi, S.J., who served as the gathering’s moderator, announced that Pope Francis will issue a motu propio “on the protection of minors and vulnerable persons” and that “this document will accompany a new law of Vatican City State and Guidelines for the Vicariate of Vatican City on the same subject.”
He said in a statement that the pope “has expressed the intention of creating task forces of competent persons to help episcopal conferences and dioceses that find it difficult to confront the problems and produce initiatives for the protection of minors.”
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“These first steps are encouraging signs that will accompany us in our mission of preaching the Gospel and of serving all children throughout the world, in mutual solidarity with all people of goodwill who want to abolish every form of violence and abuse against minors,” Father Federico Lombardi said.
In his closing talk, Pope Francis provided data demonstrating that the sexual abuse of minors is prevalent first of all in families. But, he said, the statistics “do not represent the real extent of the phenomenon...because many cases of the sexual abuse of minors go unreported, particularly the great number committed within families.”
“Today we find ourselves before a manifestation of brazen, aggressive and destructive evil.”
He noted that the “anguish tragically leads to bitterness, even suicide, or at times to seek revenge by doing the same thing. The one thing certain is that millions of children in the world are victims of exploitation and of sexual abuse.”
Pope Francis, however, went beyond a review of the data to expose what he has discerned as the underlying force behind all this: “Today we find ourselves before a manifestation of brazen, aggressive and destructive evil. Behind and within, there is the spirit of evil, which in its pride and in its arrogance considers itself the Lord of the world and thinks that it has triumphed.”
Speaking as “pastor of the church,” Pope Francis said: “In these painful cases, I see the hand of evil that does not spare even the innocence of the little ones. And this leads me to think of the example of Herod who, driven by fear of losing his power, ordered the slaughter of all the children of Bethlehem.”
Notwithstanding the worldwide nature of the problem, Pope Francis said, “we need to be clear that while gravely affecting our societies as a whole, this evil is in no way less monstrous when it takes place within the church.”
Indeed, he said, “the brutality of this worldwide phenomenon becomes all the more grave and scandalous in the church, for it is utterly incompatible with her moral authority and ethical credibility.” He emphasized the fact that “consecrated persons, chosen by God to guide souls to salvation, let themselves be dominated by their human frailty or sickness and thus become tools of Satan.”
“From today, the church’s aim will thus be to hear, watch over, protect and care for abused, exploited and forgotten children, wherever they are.”
As church leaders, Francis said, “we need to recognize with humility and courage that we stand face to face with the mystery of evil, which strikes most violently against the most vulnerable, for they are an image of Jesus.”
For this reason, he said, “the church has become increasingly aware of the need not only to curb the gravest cases of abuse by disciplinary measures and civil and canonical processes but also to decisively confront the phenomenon both inside and outside the church.”
Francis said the church “feels called to combat this evil that strikes at the very heart of her mission, which is to preach the Gospel to the little ones and to protect them from ravenous wolves.”
He made unequivocally clear, however, that “if in the church there should emerge even a single case of abuse—which already in itself represents an atrocity—that case will be faced with the utmost seriousness.” He did not use the expression “zero tolerance” as he has done before and as victims had hoped he would, but he left no doubt that decisive action would be taken on every case of abuse.
Francis urged all Catholics to help the church be liberated “from the plague of clericalism, which is the fertile ground for all these disgraces.”
Francis said that “in people’s justified anger, the church sees the reflection of the wrath of God, betrayed and insulted by these deceitful consecrated persons.” Moreover, he said, “the silent cry of the little ones who, instead of finding in them fathers and spiritual guides encountered tormentors, will shake hearts dulled by hypocrisy and by power.”
Summing up the summit’s discussion, Pope Francis said that “from today, the church’s aim will thus be to hear, watch over, protect and care for abused, exploited and forgotten children, wherever they are.” But “to achieve that goal, the church must rise above the ideological disputes and journalistic practices that often exploit, for various interests, the very tragedy experienced by the little ones.”
Francis said that “the time has come to work together to eradicate this evil from the body of our humanity by adopting every necessary measure already in force on the international level and ecclesial levels.”
In this context, he said, it is necessary “to find a correct equilibrium of all values in play” and “to provide uniform directives for the church, avoiding the two extremes of a ‘justicialism’ provoked by guilt for past errors and media pressure”—perhaps referring to a kind of lynch-mob reaction—“and a defensivenessthat fails to confront the causes and effects of these grave crimes,” referring to those who have not yet grasped the gravity of the situation.
The pope sought to locate the abuse of minors by clergy in the wider reality by showing that the sexual abuse of minors is widespread in the world. “It is difficult to grasp the phenomenon of the sexual abuse of minors without considering power,” he said, “since it is always the result of an abuse of power, an exploitation of the inferiority and vulnerability of the abused, which makes possible the manipulation of their conscience and of their psychological and physical weakness.”
He urged all Catholics to help the church be liberated “from the plague of clericalism, which is the fertile ground for all these disgraces.”
“I make a heartfelt appeal for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors both sexually and in other areas, on the part of all authorities and individuals, for we are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth,” the pope said.
Material from Catholic News Service was used in this report.
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See the entire statement here, under "speeches"
http://m.vatican.va/content/francescomobile/en/speeches/2019/february/documents/papa-francesco_20190224_incontro-protezioneminori-chiusura.html
Francis does devote much of his statement to placing the Catholic clerical miscreants into a universal context. As if to say, "It ain't just us. It's much worse elsewhere, especially within families."
Yes, it’s as if Pope France said the laity is complicit with church clericalism. Most people think that word was invented 6 month ago to deflect the investigation. It’s the responsibility of the church leaders to speak truth to the pop secular culture, not to become part of it and then declare “we’re all in this together” They can’t lie or hide to the laity about the behavior within the church walls and then blame the laity with the whataboutism excuse. The fact that priest today are still quiet about their sexuality speaks volumes.
"It’s the responsibility of the church leaders to speak truth to the pop secular culture, not to become part of it and then declare 'we’re all in this together' "
Yes; and that is precisely the view of the Church that Vatican II brought to an end. When modernism triumphed, the evils of modernism triumphed also.
this is a stunt that Francis has been pulling ever since events rubbed his nose in abuse and forced him to confront it--it is a kind of 'themtooism' as if to say we are part of a bigger problem (thank god) so don't just focus on us. It sounds like a get out of jail free card that he likes to play in order to draw some of the heat away from the church. Kinda like saying, "I know I am selling rotten vegetables, but so is the guy down the street, so we had better all mount this campaign against rotten vegetables". Any shopkeeper (or Pope) with any integrity would attend to his own affairs first, before pointing fingers. What was it Christ said at the sermon on the mount (Matt.7:5):"thou hypocrite!- first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye”.
Concrete measures? No - just more flannel and evasion, as expected.
I hope whatever they approved is not just more pie in the sky sayings like this: "He committed the church to do everything possible to eradicate it from within the church itself and from society as a whole."
How do you stop child abuse/pedophilia/ sex abuse of Nuns! May I may I suggest never. All you can do is have a universal of procedure's in place for handing the case over to legal civil authorities then having Rome and/or the Bishops take care legal expenses and compensation to the victims as well as immediate dismissal and laicization of the clerics involved regardless of rank.
What a waste of time. Nothing will change.
Can we get beyond bitching about how badly the Church behaved. We all know that. This meeting should have been about reviewing concrete proposals. Waiting for a couple of months for something is not acceptable. It shows that having clerics trying to fix themselves is like asking kids to develop a means for not eating candy.
I love Francis, but his focus on process this weekend was a huge missed opportunity. He should have said - look it kids, I don’t have much time left on the clock. Therefore, I ain’t going to leave a mess behind. I am going to convene a lay dominated task force to examine the the canonical rules that give us - the clergy - too much say and power over the Church. No teaching on the role, authority and responsibility of clergy - including yours truly - will not be examined and tested to answer the question: does this rule allow the clergy, bishops, Cardinals and Pope to run the place like a king, not a shepherd? The Club must and will change.
I would expect a report on the findings within 45 day and recommendations for changes 90 days after the first report. The clocks will begin ticking the moment the Committee members are appointed.
Watch for more concrete steps in the days, not weeks ahead.
The results and statements, so far, from this Synod on Sexual Abuse is extremely disappointing and even irresponsible since many of the most important issues and questions were not addressed or mentioned. Below is a very short list of issues/questions not addressed.
1. Will a thorough lay-lead investigation be commissioned to get to the truth about all allegations in the PA Grand Jury Report, as well as in the entire McCarrick scandal? With respect to McCarrick, why did Pope JP II promote him to Cardinal when many bishops and cardinals knew about his decades of sexual abuse as well as the Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S.? Will the findings of these investigations be made public?
2. What specific actions will be implemented to address the root causes of clergy sexual abuse and its coverup? Who will monitor and investigate all future allegations of sexual abuse and coverup and enforce all rules and policies?
3. Will all heterosexual and homosexual priests and bishops be asked to resign if found guilty of the sexual abuse of minors, consensual sex with adults, coverup of sexual abuse and/or gross negligence of office?
4. Will a list of all clergy and bishops who have been found guilty of sexual abuse and in its coverup be made public?
5. How will the Church accurately and fairly determine if a sincere homosexual will most likely not be able to abide by the vows of celibacy and abstinence and therefore be denied admission to seminaries? Is the focus on screening homosexuals only? What about heterosexuals?
Rape cover-ups by Jehovah's Witnesses as exposed on NBC Dateline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbKXj8R4_X8&t=4s
This is absolutely sickening tripe, wilfully and wickedly contrived to cover up the real factors in the Church and in Western society principally responsible for the paedophilia epidemic in the Church, a phenomenon mainly of the 1970s and 1980s. Exteriorly, we had the sexual revolution with its mantra, "if it feels good, do it!"-- anything sexual was OK, including paedophilia which socially liberal forces, drawing on the Kinsey reports, back then represented as a good thing for the victims. In the Church we had the massive "re-thinking" of the Church's teachings on sexual morality, sin, the Afterlife, magisterial authority, and more, triggered by the reaction against Humanae Vitae, and tolerated from moral cowardice by Rome and national hierarchies. Sexual sin became "no big deal", and morally permissible if accordant with a permissive pretend-conscience. Heterosexual priests and religious abandoned their vocations in huge numbers , from a mix of desire to marry and a collapse of belief in the Church's authority. Active homosexuality became rampant among sections of the clergy who remained, and totally corrupted a vast number of seminaries around the world. Those among the homosexually-inclined who were also inclined to paedophilia were especially prone to corruption in this atmosphere, which is why everywhere 80% or more of convicted clerical paedophiles and hebophiles have been homosexual . This is the herd of elephants in the Church's kitchen -- but none of it is acknowledged in the disingenuous summative official statements of the disingenuously stage-managed episcopal summit on clerical sexual abuse of minors. "Clericalism" and "power abuse" are to blame for everything! The whole farce stinks to high heaven.
When I see concrete measures involving a partnership among the ordained, religious and laity to manage and administer the Church, I will believe that there is a serious effort to reform
It's the consciences of those in power that need self reflection. Thank God Pope Francis recognized it, No rules or committees will change behaviour, and that's what needs to change with our bishops. Cardinal Cupich summed it up perfectly.
Where can I sign up as a competent person to sit on a US panel to clean up this mess! Or should I look for a new Church — one where a well educated, morally strong, compassionate yet firm WOMAN can make a difference. Men have been running this show for too long!! Give me a shot at it!
Can’t argue with that logic !
Roger Mahony
I'm looking forward to the findings of the two federal grand juries that have been empaneled. RICO approaches.
"these would come later through a substantial and sustained follow-up to the summit."
Oh, that's rich. I suppose Pope Francis just needs a bit more time? Did the timing of this summit come as a surprise to him? He was so anxious to put the brakes on the U.S. Bishop's conference, and for what? To only postpone any definitive path forward even longer? This would be laughable, if not for being so entirely sad.
Decades of despicable and criminal behavior are not going to be thwarted by hollow proclamations and whataboutisms.
This, combined with the revelations in that book about the Vatican closet ... how can a rotten church teach anything reliable?
Let us be clear and not stray off the issue. Yes, the Pope called for “concrete measures” at the beginning, rather I do not know if he said that he will announce those “concrete measures” at the end. Those who think the Pope said that he will announce the "concrete measures" that will solve all instances and cases of the evil of sex abuse in all countries the Church serves God's people right at the end of the summit should please inform us. It is important to understand what “measures” are and the type of “measures” to announce right away at the end of the summit and at different times in the life of the universal Church given the fundamental evil nature of the evil of sex abuse, and the different ways this evil occurs and is covered up in different countries. The need to recognize what (concrete measures) the Pope can take and will take right there at the end of the summit and consistently throughout the life of the universal Church (after the 2019 summit) as the outcomes of the summit interact with national laws in different countries where the universal Church serves God’s people is important.
This evil of sex abuse is real and must be pro-actively and aggressively fought and defeated by all of us regardless of our ideological orientations inside and outside the Church. What are also real as the Pope correctly points out are the “ideological disputes and journalistic practices that often exploit, for various interests, the very tragedy experienced by the little ones.”
Please note that the Pope does not call the press the enemy. He correctly alludes to ideologically defined journalistic practices which will not solve the evil but only promote the ideological views of the ideologue over the solution of one the greatest evil that has come to bedevil the Church, our Church, Christ Church. Our ideological differences are to be expected. Why not? We are humans. However, the evil of sexual abuse fundamentally transcends and supersedes ideological and theological differences.
So I am just wondering how ideological disputes which unhesitatingly and instantly dominates the discussion can help solve this evil. When we engage the issue from an ideological standpoint-as some of us do- rather than go headlong to attack the evil, we forget that sexual abuse predates the papacy of Pope Francis, a period that may be a period when a Pope which we may think “represented” and "espoused" our preferred ideological views served Christ and His Church! So? There has to be a minimum. When it comes to the evil of sexual abuse, let us put our ideological differences away and deal with the evil as members of one Body of Christ, after which those who wish to return can return to their preferred ideological trenches on other Church matters!
I sincerely doubt we are discussing ideological differences. Nothing Pope Francis said, or could have said would have been received in a positive light by those so determined to attack our Church and his papacy.. He 'dared' to mention forgiveness, yet the reality is forgiveness leads to healing for all of us who face pain and suffering. He is being mocked for blaming the crisis on clericalism, yet it is clericalism that has lead to additional, needless suffering, because bishops chose themselves over the victims, which lead to more victims, and more suffering. He 'wasted his time' on prayer and reflection, when clearly it is exactly what is needed. Perhaps, instead of the constant criticism of our Church, and of Pope Francis, we all spend a moment in prayer and self reflection, we may see things in a different light. A little humility goes a long way.
Traditionalists are not so just because they want a "pretty mass." There are indeed consequences to dismantling the faith (as they now see some of the changes) Here, from one such Catholic woman from another trad site, and well stated, in my estimation:
"I find their words and speeches annoying to the max. It is like nails on a chalkboard to hear about “feminine genius” and how “women ARE the Church”. Spare us that nonsense, please. Women don’t need flattery, don’t need positions of power in the church, don’t need influence, or to be placated, women need the faith, the real, authentic, unadulterated Catholic faith. We also need our clergy to be men, 100% heterosexual men. We’ve seen what happens when we have men who are not 100% heterosexual, and it hasn’t worked. Our Catholic faith gets dismantled and our boys and young men corrupted and sodomized. We’ve seen too many grown men who have lost their faith, committed suicide, or suffered all their lives over what had been done to them when they were young innocents.
No more. Absolutely, positively, no more.
To hear a Mass of Reparation from men who have not the slightest regret about their actions nor the slightest intention of making real change is like throwing gasoline on a fire. How stupid do these men think we are.
I had no confidence the bishops were going to accomplish anything at the meeting they had when the pope stopped them from doing anything, but he did. Hold off until February, he said. Then the week before this dog and pony he lowers the bar, not much can come of it, he now says.
Then what comes out of it, that “women ARE the church”. That is NOT going to cut it.
Make real change, about homosexuality in the priesthood. Don’t insult us with this other drivel.
We want and demand the real faith, we want and demand you take concrete steps to stop homosexuals from treating the church like it’s their own personal Studio 54."
Jay- a perfect example of the problem with traditionalists. Despite their dissent, they somehow believe they take, and hold the moral high ground. Dissent is dissent, any which way you look at it. It is driven by pride, and severely lacking in humility, which is necessary if truth and justice are to prevail. As a Catholic, that requires adherence to her teachings, which through Christ, come by our pope.
From this article: “I make a heartfelt appeal for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors both sexually and in other areas, on the part of all authorities and individuals, for we are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth,” the pope said.
"And in other areas" could mean abortion and those who protect it legally, no? Yet we are told that "excommunication should not be used as a weapon" by the American hierarchy. An all-out war would not stop short of using excommunication. A limited war where we refrain from using all our resources might. If an abuser seeks and finds refuge in a culture of "clerficalism" and we fail to see excommunication on the table, then it is not an all-out war by definition. These "weapons" that the Pope speaks of are not meant to harm any particular persons -- they are meant to establish the Kingdom of God and his righteousness on the earth. These "weapons" are meant to save souls, especially "those most in need of thy mercy." These "weapons" are like the two-edged sword referenced by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews (4:12). Christ is always advocating for us to the Father. We should not be afraid, for the truth shall set us free. He has come "not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:17). Consider Hebrews 4:11-16.
"Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
I am still shocked why some of us hide under their ideological prejudices, preferences and orientation to attack Pope Francis without any basis. This is why I put it bluntly that the objection to Pope Francis is ideological. It is not even theological. Some simply prefer a type of Pope. To me for someone to claim they have an individual ideological choice and preference is okay. But that is in the secular and political world. Such individual choice for a particular type of Pope after we have one is not supported by our deposit of faith. Here we are dealing with our faith. We are not perfect, but we are engaging our faith. So those who baselessly attack the Pope should not hide under their ideological prejudices (which they constitutionally have rights to uphold) to continue their ideological trench war against Pope Francis and our faith.
I have the rare privilege of walking with a Nun in my parish in serving Christ and His Church in pastoral care spaces in nursing homes and prison. During one of our walks together we discussed this same issue. She stopped and said quietly un-assumingly: "How many times have people prayed for our priests and our Pope? Don't you think if those who attack the Pope spend the precious time they use to attack the Pope to pray for him, things might be different? I agree with her.
There is a simple but un-acknowledged issue here. I hope the ideologues understand that the evil of sex abuse in the Church predates Pope Francis. This information (which is not new, and which the ideologues themselves know) should make the ideologues pause and take a deep breadth. The ideologues who continue to attack Pope Francis baselessly need to understand this. We should not wrap our ideological prejudices under faith issues and proceed to project ideological prejudices under the guise of faith.
Together-not as ideologues-but as members of one Body of Christ-, we will defeat the evil of sex abuse in the Church. Sex abuse in and outside the Church is evil-the battle against this evil must not be colored ideologically. Ideologues can return to their ideological trenches on other Church matters. But sex abuse is too evil to be soaked into another ideological battle against Pope Francis.
Adeolu- I misunderstood what you meant by ideologies. You are absolutely right, that is what it is. Our Church, however, does not fit into left or right, conservative or liberal anymore than a square peg fits into a round hole. That's why the political parties are so divided, neither one represents the truth, or comes close to embracing a world our Lord desires for his people.
Amen to the nun who calls on us to pray from our priests and Pope, for if we truly did, things would change.
Nobody cares what the Pope says about this. It’s all about actions at this point. It’s like an alcoholic, you watch what they do, not what they say. “Watch the hips, not the lips” - and beyond issuing more pronouncements, they unfortunately aren’t doing anything.
This is never going to happen as long as SNAP and bishops continue to protect each other as Jeff Monforton is being protected by Dan Dinardo and the rest of the bishop's conference. They demand allegations be turned over to civil legal authorities, yet do not accept the findings of prosecutors and grand juries. Bishops like Conlon and Monforton make up tribunals and claim they have documentations but don't share this with the prosecutor. They cannot and will not admit their errors.
This is never going to happen as long as SNAP and bishops continue to protect each other as Jeff Monforton is being protected by Dan Dinardo and the rest of the bishop's conference. They demand allegations be turned over to civil legal authorities, yet do not accept the findings of prosecutors and grand juries. Bishops like Conlon and Monforton make up tribunals and claim they have documentations but don't share this with the prosecutor. They cannot and will not admit their errors.
This is never going to happen as long as SNAP and bishops continue to protect each other as Jeff Monforton is being protected by Dan Dinardo and the rest of the bishop's conference. They demand allegations be turned over to civil legal authorities, yet do not accept the findings of prosecutors and grand juries. Bishops like Conlon and Monforton make up tribunals and claim they have documentations but don't share this with the prosecutor. They cannot and will not admit their errors.
This is never going to happen as long as SNAP and bishops continue to protect each other as Jeff Monforton is being protected by Dan Dinardo and the rest of the bishop's conference. They demand allegations be turned over to civil legal authorities, yet do not accept the findings of prosecutors and grand juries. Bishops like Conlon and Monforton make up tribunals and claim they have documentations but don't share this with the prosecutor. They cannot and will not admit their errors.
This is never going to happen as long as SNAP and bishops continue to protect each other as Jeff Monforton is being protected by Dan Dinardo and the rest of the bishop's conference. They demand allegations be turned over to civil legal authorities, yet do not accept the findings of prosecutors and grand juries. Bishops like Conlon and Monforton make up tribunals and claim they have documentations but don't share this with the prosecutor. They cannot and will not admit their errors.
This is never going to happen as long as SNAP and bishops continue to protect each other as Jeff Monforton is being protected by Dan Dinardo and the rest of the bishop's conference. They demand allegations be turned over to civil legal authorities, yet do not accept the findings of prosecutors and grand juries. Bishops like Conlon and Monforton make up tribunals and claim they have documentations but don't share this with the prosecutor. They cannot and will not admit their errors.
It’s interesting to me that not one mention was made as to how all of this sexual abuse has been an abuse against God first and foremost. Everyone wants to look for human solutions and pass the problem off with fancy phrases that sound right but very little mention on how this injured precious children of God’s souls.
I’m a convert to Catholicism who converted primarily because of my love for Francis and the hope for the reform he represented. I loved him and named my first son after him. I’m not blaming everything on him because I know he cane into a mess. But I don’t think anyone in their right man who has the ability to objectively reason can stand by and defend the church and her leaders and continue on with the status quo. I refuse to leave the church I love and will fight to defend her.
The Francis papacy did start a revolution. I, like so many younger Catholics who haven’t up and left, am leaving my liberation theology parish and going to a traditional Church where at the very least I know the Priests and people there are honest.
Sara, please, please keep following Pope Francis. You can't go wrong if you follow him. Christ has promised us this. There are priests and bishops in both camps that just don't get it, and have let pride dictate their belief in themselves more than the teaching of our faith. We must stick with the pope to stay on path.
Thank you Lisa for responding and offering me encouragement. You have a much stronger faith than me at this point.
Honestly I don’t know who or what to believe anymore. What broke my heart the most was when Pope Francis refused to address the Viganò accusations when so many of his children were so distraught about them. It rocked so many people faith. But He simply refused. Done. Carrying on with business as usual. As his children, We deserved some reassurance. We deserved to hear our fathers voice speak into this. Because it mattered to many of us and it still matters. And we deserve answers or an apology. If he made bad judgement calls, just apologize and so many of us would forgive him in a heartbeat.
For the record, I don’t think either the conservative or liberal crowd is better than the other. I just think that the conservatives are being more truthful as to the causes behind all of this- the lack of holiness especially pertaining to human sexuality. It seems that the conservatives are the ones holding the hierarchy accountable and focused more on the supernatural that which is the only thing that can save us from this mess.
I will continue to pray for Pope Francis and I don’t think he should have to resign regardless of whether or not he covered up and promoted bad people, but I can’t trust him or his judgement right now.
Sarah, believe me when I say I understand, and have many family members who do not agree with me. But let me say one thing. When I first heard about the problems with Pope Francis, I simply said what are you worried about, Christ promised there will be no error in faith and morals. I have never swayed from that point. I did however start reading more about the complaints, and then I would go and read what the pope actually said, and often found they missed the point. I then noticed how he was actually being attacked, rather than being questioned. I then started to notice some were actually telling us what he was thinking, and what he really wanted to do. I began to see that some who profess to be such good catholics had no shame slandering him. That is what initially convinced me I was right to stay with the pope always, as Christ has promised. It is very difficult having two camps within our Church, but the truth is, that is where we error, because Catholicism belongs to neither. The errors are in both, but not in the Church. So while the conservative camp brings us comfort in the moral teachings, the liberal side is more in tune with the social teachings. All I can say is Christ, and Pope Francis have warned us about the grave sin of pride. With great sadness I see it has taken over much of the conservative camp now. They somehow believe that despite Christ's promise to, through the holy sprit, guide our pope, who cannot error in faith and morals, they have chosen to ignore this and say they know more than he. How can they profess to be faithful, when they dissent from Church teaching regarding the authority of the pope? I strongly encourage you to check the website https://wherepeteris.com They are so knowledgeable, and will bring you great strength and understanding in these very difficult times.
As far as pope Francis and his silence, I understand what you are saying, but in fact, his silence, at least for me, meant to go do research, read everything you can, not about someone, but by the source themselves. His silence represents our obligation to seek and reflect. It forces us to a deeper understanding, and away from false pride where we lack humility because we think we know it all already. That silence has had a profound impact on my life. Hang in their Sarah, and please, check out Where Peter Is, and always read what the Pope says, directly from the Pope. He is a blessing to our Church, and is suffering greatly for all of humanity.