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Pope Francis on clerical sexual abuse: Not one step back

12. april 2014

MSNBC: "Father Thomas Reese, author of “Inside the Vatican,” joins Ronan Farrow to discuss Pope Francis’ landmark speech that addressed the scourge of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church."

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Fr. Thomas J. Reese høre til blandt de mest klarsynet stemmer i den katolske kirke - på Wikipedia er der en artikel om ham <her>


11. april 2014

Kl. 16:20

Her er den fulde tekst fra Vatikanets radio - som også er <her>
og en report af Emer McCarthy som lyd:

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Emer McCarthy reports

Church > 2014-04-11 12:42:42 

Pope Francis on clerical sexual abuse: Not one step back 

(Vatican Radio) “I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children. 

The Church is aware of this damage, it is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church, and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and the sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, we have to be even stronger. Because you cannot interfere with children”.This was Pope Francis' clear message to members of BICE [International Catholic Child Bureau] whom he received Friday in audience at the Vatican. 

BICE is a Catholic NGO that works to protect the rights and dignity of the child worldwide. Speaking to them, Pope Francis also spoke about the need to reaffirm the rights of parents to decide “the moral and religious education of their children” and reject all forms of “educational experimentation with children and young people”. 

He said that it is every child’s right to grow up in a family “with a father and a mother” capable of creating “a suitable environment for the child’s development and emotional maturity”. The Pope also called for an end to what he termed as “educational experiments” with children and young people, pushing a “dictatorship of one form of thinking” on them in the name of a pretended “modernity”. 

The Pope noted that the “horrors of the manipulation of education that we experienced in the great genocidal dictatorships of the twentieth century have not disappeared; they have retained a current relevance under various guises and proposals”. 

To counter this he urged the BICE members to foster a true anthropological formation of the child respectful of the reality of the person, to enable children and young people to respond to the problems and challenges posed by contemporary culture and widespread mentality propagated by the mass media.

Below please find a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s address to participants: 

Dear friends,
I thank you for this meeting. I appreciate your efforts on behalf of children: it is a concrete and current expression of the predilection that the Lord Jesus has for them .

We can say that the BICE was born of the motherhood of the Church . In fact, it originates from Pope Pius XII intervention in defense of children in the aftermath of World War II. Since then, this organization has always been committed to promoting the protection of children's rights, and to contributing to the 1989 UN Convention. And in this his work it constantly collaborates with the Holy See offices of the in New York, in Strasbourg and especially Geneva .


[moving away from script speech]…. I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests, quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests, to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children. The Church is aware of this damage, it is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church, and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem, and the sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, we have to be even stronger. Because you cannot interfere with children...

In our days, it is important to carry out the projects against slave - labor, against the recruitment of child soldiers and all forms of violence against children. On a positive note, we must reaffirm the right of children to grow up in a family with a father and a mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child’s development and emotional maturity .

At the same time, this implies supporting the right of parents to decide the moral and religious education of their children. And in this regard I would like to express my rejection of any kind of educational experimentation with children. We cannot experiment with children and young people. The horrors of the manipulation of education that we experienced in the great genocidal dictatorships of the twentieth century have not disappeared; they have retained a current relevance under various guises and proposals and, with the pretense of modernity, push children and young people to walk on the dictatorial path of "only one form of thought".

[moving away from script speech] “A week ago a great teacher said to me… ‘with these education projects I don’t know if we’re sending the kids to school or a re-education camp’…”
Working for human rights presupposes the aim of fostering anthropological formation, of being well prepared on the reality of the human person, and knowing how to respond to the problems and challenges posed by contemporary culture and widespread mentality propagated by the mass media. 

[moving away from script speech] Obviously this does not mean we should cover them with forms of protection that are superseded today because they belong to a past culture…Not this, this is no good…we should propose the positive values of the human person the new culture…

For you, this means offering your managers and operators continuing formation on the anthropology of the child, because that is where the rights and obligations have their foundation . It is upon this that the formation of educational projects rest. 
[moving away from script speech] These projects obviously must progress, mature and accommodate itself to the signs of the times always remember human identity and freedom of conscience… 
Thank you again. I wish you a ‘Buon lavoro’!
 

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Video fra Catholic News Service:

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En privataudiens med medlemmer fra BICE - den internationale katolske børne organisation
Le message du Pape au BICE "on ne joue pas avec les enfants"

BICE (Bureau International Catholique de l’Enfance)
http://bice.org/en/

Pontifical Council for the Laity
http://www.laici.va/content/laici/en/sezioni/associazioni/repertorio/uff-cattolicoinfanzia.html

Fransk Wiki om BICE:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_international_catholique_de_l'enfance


Men der er kritik fra flere sider:

"Pope Francis asks forgiveness for clergy sex abuse scandal"

RNS skriver bl.a.

"Still, many advocates are dismayed that Francis has not met with victims and they are upset with his recent comments to an Italian newspaper that the church has been unfairly singled out for criticism on this issue.

“This may be the first time a pope has talked of sanctions against complicit bishops. But that is all it is: talk,” said Barbara Dorris of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a leading victims advocacy group.

“On church governance, church finances, and simple living, he acts,” Dorris said Friday. “On the rape of children, he talks.”

Hele artiklen er <her>

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New York Times reporter Christine Hauser:

"Pope’s Request for Abuse Victims to Forgive Church Draws Calls for Action" som er <her>

og henviser bl.a. til denne:

henvis til denne fra "The Center for Constitutional Rights" <her>

"Pope Asks Forgiveness for “Evil” of Church Sex Abuse Epidemic. Survivors Highlight Concrete Actions He Must Take If Serious"

og skriver:

"Actions speak louder than words. If Pope Francis wants to meaningfully address this crisis and the institutional impunity that perpetuates it, there are three steps he must take."

  1. Remove all priests known to have raped children or others, and require reporting to secular authorities. Today, throughout the world, priests who are known to church officials continue to hold posts in congregations, schools, orphanages, and elsewhere, unbeknownst to local communities. The church has shown over and over that it cannot police itself. These matters must be turned over to the proper authorities, and it is well within the scope of  Pope Francis’s power to make sure this happens
     
  2. Punish church officials who have covered up cases of rape and sexual violence by clergy, failed to report them, and obstructed investigations by law enforcement. Pope Francis’s promised “sanctions” must address the systemic impunity that helped to create the culture of rape and sexual violence that exists today within the church.
     
  3. Encourage and protect church whistleblowers who have come forward with information about the crisis of sexual violence. So far church officials have intimidated and retaliated against whistleblowers. Pope Francis can and must work with whistleblowers to get to the root of the problem.

 The Catholic Church is governed as a monarchy with the Pope having “supreme, immediate and universal ordinary power.” Pope Francis has all the authority he needs to move from words to action and stop further abuse."


I Danske medier:

politiken.dk: "Paven beder om tilgivelse for børnemisbrug"

http://politiken.dk/udland/ECE2261275/paven-beder-om-tilgivelse-for-boernemisbrug/