VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 166   
   DATE 28-09-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Francis meets with the victims of sexual abuse: perpetrators will be held   
   accountable   
   - Francis to visiting bishops: Appreciation and gratitude to families must   
   prevail over complaints   
   - It is painful to see prison systems that do not care for wounds, soothe pain   
   or offer new possibilities: the Pope to inmates at Curran-Fromhold penitentiary   
   - Concluding Mass at the World Meeting of Families: God wants all His children   
   to take part in the feast of the Gospel   
   - Francis leaves the United States: I thank the Lord that I was able to witness   
   the faith of God's people in this country   
   - Message for World Youth Day in Krakow, 2016: "Blessed are the merciful, for   
   they shall obtain mercy"   
   - World Youth Day and the Year of Mercy coincide to make "a Youth Jubilee at   
   world level"   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis meets with the victims of sexual abuse: perpetrators will be held   
   accountable   
    Vatican City, 28 September 2015 (VIS) - The final day of the Pope's apostolic   
   trip began yesterday with his meeting at the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary with   
   victims of sexual abuse perpetrated when they were minors by members of the   
   clergy, or members of their families or teachers. The group was composed of   
   five   
   adults - 3 women and 2 men - accompanied by Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley,   
   archbishop of Boston and president of the Commission for the Protection of   
   Minors, instituted by the Pope, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, and   
   Bishop Michael Joseph Fitzgerald, head of the diocesan office for the   
   protection   
   of minors in the same diocese.   
    During the meeting, which lasted half an hour, Francis listened to their   
   accounts of their experiences, addressed them as a group and then greeted each   
   one individually. He prayed with them and manifested his participation in their   
   suffering, his pain and his shame for the harm caused by members of the clergy   
   or ecclesiastical collaborators.   
    "Thank you for corning here today", he said. "Words cannot fully express my   
   sorrow for the abuse you suffered. You are precious children of God who should   
   always expect our protection, our care and our love. I am profoundly sorry that   
   your innocence was violated by those who you trusted. In some cases the trust   
   was betrayed by members of your own family, in other cases by priests who carry   
   a sacred responsibility for the care of soul. In all circumstances, the   
   betrayal   
   was a terrible violation of human dignity.   
    "For those who were abused by a member of the clergy, I am deeply sorry for   
   the   
   times when you or your family spoke out, to report the abuse, but you were not   
   heard or believed. Please know that the Holy Father hears you and believes you.   
   I deeply regret that some bishops failed in their responsibility to protect   
   children. It is very disturbing to know that in some cases bishops even were   
   abusers. I pledge to you that we will follow the path of truth wherever it may   
   lead. Clergy and bishops will be held accountable when they abuse or fail to   
   protect children.   
    "We are gathered here in Philadelphia to celebrate God's gift of family life.   
   Within our family of faith and our human families, the sins and crimes of   
   sexual   
   abuse of children must no longer be held in secret and in shame. As we   
   anticipate the Jubilee Year of Mercy, your presence, so generously given   
   despite   
   the anger and pain you have experienced, reveals the merciful heart of Christ.   
   Your stories of survival, each unique and compelling, are powerful signs of the   
   hope that comes from the Lord's promise to be with us always.   
    "It is good to know that you have brought family members and friends with you   
   today. I am grateful for their compassionate support and pray that many people   
   of the Church will respond to the call to accompany those who have suffered   
   abuse. May the Door of Mercy be opened wide in our dioceses, our parishes, our   
   homes and our hearts, to receive those who were abused and to seek the path to   
   forgiveness by trusting in the Lord. We promise to support your continued   
   healing and to always be vigilant to protect the children of today and   
   tomorrow.   
    "When the disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus recognised   
   that   
   He was the Risen Lord, they asked Jesus to stay with them. Like those   
   disciples,   
   I humbly beg you and all survivors of abuse to stay with us, to stay with the   
   Church, and that together, as pilgrims on the journey of faith, we might find   
   our way to the Father".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis to visiting bishops: Appreciation and gratitude to families must   
   prevail over complaints   
    Vatican City, 28 September 2015 (VIS) - Shortly after his meeting with a group   
   of victims, the Holy Father returned to the issue of sexual abuse at the   
   beginning of his address to the three hundred bishops attending the World   
   Meeting of Families, held in the great Chapel of the St. Charles Borromeo   
   Seminary.   
    "I am deeply pained by the stories, the sufferings and the pain of minors who   
   were sexually abused by priests. I continue to be ashamed that persons charged   
   with the tender care of those little ones abused them and caused them grave   
   harm. I deeply regret this. God weeps. The crimes and sins of sexual abuse of   
   minors may no longer be kept secret; I commit myself to ensuring that the   
   Church   
   makes every effort to protect minors and I promise that those responsible will   
   be held to account. Survivors of abuse have become true heralds of hope and   
   ministers of mercy; humbly we owe our gratitude to each of them and to their   
   families for their great courage in shedding the light of Christ on the evil   
   sexual abuse of minors. I say this because I have just met with a group of   
   persons abused as children, who are helped and accompanied here in Philadelphia   
   with particular care by Archbishop Chaput, and we felt that I should   
   communicate   
   this to you".   
    Moving on to the issue of the family, he pronounced a discourse, at times   
   improvised, in which he focused on the characteristics of families in today's   
   society and the mission of bishops, reiterating that as pastors they must not   
   be   
   afraid to stay in the midst of families, with all their problems and their   
   capacities, as " A Christianity which does little in practice, while   
   incessantly   
   explaining its teachings, is dangerously unbalanced".   
    The following are extensive extracts from the Pope's address:   
    "For the Church, the family is not first and foremost a cause for concern, but   
   rather the joyous confirmation of God's blessing upon the masterpiece of   
   creation. Every day, all over the world, the Church can rejoice in the Lord's   
   gift of so many families who, even amid difficult trials, remain faithful to   
   their promises and keep the faith! I would say that the foremost pastoral   
   challenge of our changing times is to move decisively towards recognising this   
   gift. For all the obstacles we see before us, gratitude and appreciation should   
   prevail over concerns and complaints. The family is the fundamental locus of   
   the   
   covenant between the Church and God's creation. Without the family, not even   
   the   
   Church would exist. Nor could she be what she is called to be, namely 'a sign   
   and instrument of communion with God and of the unity of the entire human   
   race'.   
   Needless to say, our understanding, shaped by the interplay of ecclesial faith   
   and the conjugal experience of sacramental grace, must not lead us to disregard   
   the unprecedented changes taking place in contemporary society, with their   
   social, cultural - and now juridical - effects on family bonds. These changes   
   affect all of us, believers and non-believers alike. Christians are not   
   'immune'   
   to the changes of their times. This concrete world, with all its many problems   
   and possibilities, is where we must live, believe and proclaim".   
    "Until recently, we lived in a social context where the similarities between   
   the civil institution of marriage and the Christian sacrament were considerable   
   and shared. The two were interrelated and mutually supportive. This is no   
   longer   
   the case. To describe our situation today, I would use two familiar images: our   
   neighbourhood stores and our large supermarkets. There was a time when one   
   neighbourhood store had everything one needed for personal and family life. The   
   products may not have been cleverly displayed, or offered much choice, but   
   there   
   was a personal bond between the shopkeeper and his customers. ... They trusted   
   one   
   another. They built up trust".   
    "Then a different kind of store grew up: the supermarket. Huge spaces with a   
   great selection of merchandise. The world seems to have become one of these   
   great supermarkets; our culture has become more and more competitive. Business   
   is no longer conducted on the basis of trust; others can no longer be trusted.   
   There are no longer close personal relationships. Today's culture seems to   
   encourage people not to bond with anything or anyone, not to trust. ... Today   
   consumerism determines what is important. Consuming relationships, consuming   
   friendships, consuming religions, consuming, consuming... Whatever the cost or   
   consequences. A consumption which does not favour bonding, a consumption which   
   has little to do with human relationships. Social bonds are a mere 'means' for   
   the satisfaction of 'my needs'. The important thing is no longer our neighbour,   
   with his or her familiar face, story and personality".   
    "The result is a culture which discards everything that is no longer 'useful'   
   or 'satisfying' for the tastes of the consumer. We have turned our society into   
   a huge multicultural showcase tied only to the tastes of certain 'consumers',   
   while so many others only 'eat the crumbs which fall from their masters'   
   table'.   
   This causes great harm. I would say that at the root of so many contemporary   
   situations is a kind of impoverishment born of a widespread and radical sense   
   of   
   loneliness. ... Loneliness with fear of commitment in a limitless effort to   
   feel   
   recognised".   
    "Should we blame our young people for having grown up in this kind of society?   
   Should we condemn them for living in this kind of a world? Should they hear   
   their pastors saying that 'it was all better back then'. ... No, I do not think   
   that this is the way. As shepherds following in the footsteps of the Good   
   Shepherd, we are asked to seek out, to accompany, to lift up, to bind up the   
   wounds of our time. To look at things realistically, with the eyes of one who   
   feels called to action, to pastoral conversion. The world today demands this   
   conversion on our part. 'It is vitally important for the Church today to go   
   forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without   
   hesitation, reluctance or fear. ... The Gospel is not a product to be consumed;   
   it has nothing to do with consumerist culture".   
    "We would be mistaken, however, to see this culture of the present world as   
   mere indifference towards marriage and the family, as pure and simple   
   selfishness. ... We must not fall into this trap. Many young people, in the   
   context of this culture of discouragement, have yielded to a form of   
   unconscious   
   acquiescence. They are paralysed when they encounter the beautiful, noble and   
   truly necessary challenges which faith sets before them. Many put off marriage   
   while waiting for ideal conditions, when everything can be perfect. Meanwhile,   
   life goes on, without really being lived to the full. In Congress, a few days   
   ago, I said that we are living in a culture that drives and convinces young   
   people not to form a family, some through lack of material means to do so, and   
   others because they have the means but are comfortable as they are, but this is   
   the temptation - not to form a family".   
    "As pastors, we bishops are called to collect our energies and to rebuild   
   enthusiasm for making families correspond ever more fully to the blessing of   
   God   
   which they are! We need to invest our energies not so much in rehearsing the   
   problems of the world around us and the merits of Christianity, but in   
   extending   
   a sincere invitation to young people to be brave and to opt for marriage and   
   the   
   family".   
    "A Christianity which 'does' little in practice, while incessantly   
   'explaining'   
   its teachings, is dangerously unbalanced. I would even say that it is stuck in   
   a   
   vicious circle. A pastor must show that the 'Gospel of the family' is truly   
   'good news' in a world where self-concern seems to reign supreme! We are not   
   speaking about some romantic dream: the perseverance which is called for in   
   having a family and raising it transforms the world and human history. The   
   world   
   and history is transformed by families".   
    A pastor serenely yet passionately proclaims the word of God. He encourages   
   believers to aim high. He will enable his brothers and sisters to hear and   
   experience God's promise, which can expand their experience of motherhood and   
   fatherhood within the horizon of a new 'familiarity' with God.   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)