2023-08-06 23:50:00
August 6, 2023 / 4:50 pm
In his customary press conference on board the plane back to Rome, Pope Francis spoke, among other topics, about his request to the Virgin of Fatima, his health, abuses in the Church and his own experience on World Day of Youth (WYD) Lisbon 2023 that has concluded this Sunday.
Regarding his prayer before the Virgin of Fatima, in which he was expected to make an explicit mention of the end of the war in Ukraine, the Pope specified that he did ask the Mother of God for that.
“I prayed, I prayed. I prayed to the Virgin and prayed for peace. I have not advertised. But I have prayed. And we must continually repeat this prayer for peace,” said the Pontiff.
In the First World War, he specified, the Virgin of Fatima asked for this and “I have asked the Virgin for it. And I have prayed. I haven’t advertised.”
The Holy Father also spoke of his health and specified that he is in good condition.
“My health is fine. The stitches were removed, I live a normal life, I wear a bandage that I have to wear for two, three months to avoid a possible ‘eventration’ (in medical language: exit of the abdominal viscera, ed.) until the muscles are stronger” .
In this sense, Francisco explained the importance of highlighting communication with homilies, something he does with questions and trying to be brief, because “young people don’t have much attention time.”
In this sense, he stressed that “if you make a clear speech, with an idea, an image, an affection, eight minutes can follow you”, something that should be considered for homilies in general, because “sometimes they are torture.”
“The Church must convert to this aspect of the brief, clear homily, with a clear and affectionate message,” he stressed.
The Pope also expressed his opinion on sexual abuse in the Church, when asked by a Portuguese journalist from the Observador newspaper about the report presented in February of this year that accounts for almost 5,000 victims in 70 years, in the Church in Portugal.
The Pontiff recalled that he met 13 victims in a “very reserved” manner at the Apostolic Nunciature in Lisbon and “we discussed this plague, this tremendous plague” of abuse.
After recalling the scandal of sexual abuse in Boston in the United States in the 2000s as a milestone, the Pontiff stressed that “in the Church we are continually using a phrase: ‘firm tolerance’, ‘zero tolerance’. And the pastors who did not take charge have to take charge of that irresponsibility”.
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“I urge us to be very open on all of this,” he added.
Francisco then denounced that, today and through the telephone “you have access to the sexual abuse of minors, and this abuse is filmed live.”
“Abuse is like eating the victim or worse, hurting her and leaving her alive. Talking to the victims is a very painful experience, which is also good for me, not because I like to listen, but because it helps me take charge of this drama”, she assured.
German journalist Hinterberger Emma Elisabeth of Ard Roma later reminded the Pope of what he said about the Church having a place for everyone and asked why women or homosexuals cannot receive all the sacraments.
“You ask me a question about two different points of view, the Church is open to everyone, then there are laws that regulate life within the Church. The one who is inside is according to the legislation, what you say is a simplification: ‘he cannot do the sacraments’”, the Pope replied.
“That does not mean that the Church is closed, each one finds God on his way within the Church, and the Church is mother and guides each one on his way. That is why I do not like to say: they all come, but you, this one, but the other… Each one, each one in prayer, in internal dialogue, in pastoral dialogue, seeks the path to follow ”, he added.
Regarding his personal experience at WYD Lisbon 2023, the Pope said that “of the ones I have seen, this is the best prepared. Young people are a surprise. Young people are young. They do childish things, life is like that. But they try to move on. And they are the future.”
“The issue (the purpose) is to accompany them. The problem is knowing how to accompany them. And that they do not detach from their roots. That is why I insist so much on the dialogue between the elderly and the young, grandparents with grandchildren. This dialogue is important, more important than the dialogue between parents and children. The grandparents, the roots, ”he highlighted.
Walter Sánchez Silva is a senior writer at ACI Prensa, with more than 15 years covering Church events in Europe, America and Asia.
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