Visiting a region of Chile featuring several of the country’s indigenous peoples, including the Mapuche, whose resentments over the years have sometimes turned violent, Pope Francis on Wednesday urged greater justice as the alternative to the “deforestation of hope.”
I thank God for allowing me to visit this beautiful part of our continent, the Araucanía. It is a land blessed by the Creator with immense and fertile green fields, with forests full of impressive araucarias – the fifth “praise” offered by Gabriela Mistral to this Chilean land
Pope Francis, in his first formal speech in Chile, asked forgiveness from those who were sexually abused by priests.
I am pleased that our meeting follows that with our consecrated men and women, for one of our principal tasks is precisely to be close to consecrated life and to our priests. If the shepherd wanders off, the sheep too will stray and fall prey to any wolf that comes along. The fatherhood of the bishop with his presbyterate!
Looking to put Chile’s sex abuse scandal behind him, Pope Francis dives Wednesday into another divisive issue roiling the South American nation: the plight of the indigenous Mapuche and their long-running conflicts with government authorities.
Pope Francis today met with victims of sex abuse by priests in what Holy See spokesman Greg Burke described as a “strictly private” encounter following lunch in the Apostolic Nunciature in the Chilean capital, Santiago.
Pope Francis was visibly moved on Tuesday as he visited a prison for women in Chile. Beyond the setting, in itself touching for a man who’s made a point of visiting prisons, what seemed to stir the pope most were remarks by Janeth Zurita, one of the inmates.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to visit you. For me it is important to share this time with you and draw closer to our many brothers and sisters presently deprived of their freedom.
In his first public address in Chile, Pope Francis apologized for the “irreparable damage” caused by clerical sexual abuse. In the wake of what he had to say, abuse survivor Peter Saunders, a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, wasn’t impressed.
Pope Francis apologized for the sexual abuse of minors perpetrated by priests during his first public remarks on Tuesday in Chile, where the credibility of the Catholic Church has been badly marred by scandals involving clergy.
