VATICAN CITY
La Croix International
December 14, 2018
Jesuit priest says it is naive to think it is just a Western problem as Pope Francis’ convocation of bishops looms
The Jesuit priest who directed the Holy See Press Office for a decade published an article on Dec. 15 anticipating Pope Francis’ convention of bishops at the Vatican in February on the subject of tackling clerical sex abuse of minors
Father Federico Lombardi, who stepped down from press office post in 2016, titled the story, “In the run-up to the meeting of bishops on the protection of minors.” It ran in La Civilta Cattolica, a biweekly Jesuit magazine.
“The entire Church must feel in solidarity, above all with the victims, with their families, and with their church communities that have been wounded by the [recent clerical sex abuse] scandals,” he wrote in the article, excerpts from which were relayed by Catholic News Service.
Father Lombardi, one of the journal’s contributing writers, also serves as president of the board of directors of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Foundation.
He wrote that attendees at the Feb. 21-24 summit need to share their experiences and best practices to tackle this scourge but also acknowledge that many countries have yet to make significant inroads in preventing the abuse of minors by clergy.
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