ROME (ITALY)
LaCroix International
February 25, 2019
By Nicolas Senèze
Did Pope Francis’ closing speech at the meeting of bishops conference presidents on child protection on Feb. 24 come as a disappointment?
The long text he read out in the Sala Regia inside the Apostolic Palace did not in fact contain any significant new announcements.
On the other hand, he had already warned well in advance against “inflated” expectations from the meeting. But the real point of his address had less to do with the concrete measures the Vatican has already started working on than the kind of Church that Pope Francis envisions.
In how it responds to sex abuse by priests, this will be a very different Church from the one that existed only a few years ago. No longer will it be a besieged citadel but rather a Church genuinely in the world.
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