French Bishops Photo: AP
When I read the news reporting the words of Pope Leo XIV to the French bishops gathered in Lourdes for the spring plenary assembly from March 23 to 27, I felt disgusted and utterly disheartened. In the message, I quote the Pope’s words verbatim, where he says: “It is positive that priests guilty of abuse are not excluded from mercy and are the subject of your pastoral reflections.” These are shameful and disturbing words when one thinks of the victims involved: children and adolescents abused by those who should have protected them, and this comes to speak of mercy for them?
That is, importance is given to a pastoral path of mercy for those who committed sexual violence, the same or even greater importance than the protection of victims, this is pure madness and shows how much the balance between guilt and clemency in the Church is shifted in favor of the guilty when those who suffer are innocent.
Children and young people have suffered violence, fear, and isolation, and what does the ecclesiastical hierarchy do? It spreads the idea that the “sinner” must be welcomed into mercy and is worthy of reflection. They should rot in prison, not receive mercy.
What clearly emerges is a jumble of talk where there is much discussion of prevention and reparation just to look good in front of the media and blind faithful, but in practice, instead of giving real protection to victims or preventing other cases of abuse from happening, the guilty enjoy pastoral attention.