He Pope Francis This Tuesday he asked for “forgiveness” to those who have been “hurt” for the “sins” of the Church and expressed his “shame” for it, in a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica in which seven cardinals apologized for the various misdemeanors committed by the clergy, including sexual abuse.
“We ask forgiveness for all our sins (…) We apologize, feeling ashamed, to those who have been injured for our sins,” said the pope in an unprecedented ‘penitential vigil’ prior to the Synod, the assembly of bishops that begins this Wednesday to address the most important issues for the Church.
Francis wanted to personally write “the requests for forgiveness read by some cardinals because it was necessary to call our main sins by name“, as “the lack of courage to fight for peace”, for turning the Earth into “a desert” and for sins against indigenous peoplesmigrants and women, among others.
“How could we be credible if we do not recognize our mistakes and we We tend to heal the wounds we have caused with our sins? Healing begins by confessing the sin we have committed,” he said.
The ceremony also included the testimony of three victims of those sins: a South African baritone who suffered sexual abuse by a member of the Catholic clergy, a nun originally from Syria who suffered the horrors of war and a migrant from the Ivory Coast survivor of migratory route violence.
Pope Francis officiates mass:
Among the cardinals who read the petitions for forgiveness stood out Seán Patrick O’Malley, head of the Vatican commission that combats sexual abuse to minors in the Catholic Church.
“I apologize, feeling ashamed, for all the times that we faithful have been complicitand directly committed abuses of conscience, abuses of power and sexual abuses,” he said, before showing “shame and pain at the thought especially in sexual abuse against minors and vulnerable people“, who are “weak and defenseless”, and those who “stole their innocence”.
In turn, he expressed apologies for the religious who took advantage of his position to do so: “We have used the condition of ordained ministry and consecrated life to commit this terrible sin, feeling safe and protected and todiabolically taking advantage of the small and poor“O’Malley lamented.
Other cardinals, among them the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Argentine VÃctor Manuel Fernández, They intervened to ask forgiveness for other sins, among them “against peace, against indigenous populations, against immigrants, against women, the family and young people, against poverty and against the lack of listening, communion and participation of all.
“I apologize feeling ashamed for all the times we have given doctrinal justification for inhuman treatment“Fernandez implored before Francisco’s gaze.
For his part, Cardinal Michael Czerny apologized for not always recognizing “the right and dignity of every human person, discriminating against and exploiting them,” and “particularly indigenous peoples,” as well as for “when we have been complicit in systems that favored slavery and colonialism“.
For Francis, “confession is an opportunity to restore trust in the church, trust broken by our mistakes and sins“he exclaimed, urging us to “start healing the wounds that won’t stop bleeding.”
“We ask forgiveness for all our sins, Help us restore your face that we have disfigured by our infidelity“said the pope before concluding by asking “forgiveness, feeling shame, to those who have been hurt by our sins. “We all ask for forgiveness, we are all sinners.”
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