When a pope visits a country, it’s often hard to know what immediate impact it has – that is, beyond small miracles. But in the case of Pope Francis’ visit to Chile, the first possible fruit might be something quite different, launching a reform in the country’s female penitentiary system.
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.”
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.
“Here I am, Lord, to do your will”. In this meeting, we want to tell the Lord: “Here we are”, and renew our “yes” to him. We want to renew together our response to the call that one day took our hearts by surprise.
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.
