(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) met in Plenary Assembly last week, September 8-11 focusing their attention on the three key areas of education, a Day of Prayer and the Holy Father’s MOTU PROPRIO “As a Loving Mother”, on the accountability of Church leadership. The Plenary also recognised the importance of digital technology and have announced the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors will be going live with its own website.
The Working Group meetings focused on the updates for current projects, and developing draft proposals for Pope Francis.
Lydia O’Kane spoke to Commission member Gabriel Dy-Liacco from the Philippines about the Commissions work.
Listen:
Please find below the full press statement from the Commission:
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors [PCPM] works throughout the year and came together in Rome from September 5 through 11 for a week of Working Group meetings, [Guidelines, Healing and Care, Education, Formation, Theology and Spirituality, Canonical and Civil Norms] and for its Plenary Assembly.
The Working Group meetings focused on the updates for current projects, and developing draft proposals for the Holy Father, Pope Francis. For example, the Commission has developed a template for guidelines in the safeguarding and protection of children, adolescents and vulnerable adults, which we will shortly present to the Holy Father for his consideration.
Education is key
Highlights of this Plenary Assembly were the members’ reports on the progress of on-going education programs, both at a local level and in the Vatican.
These initiatives are part of the Commission’s effort to be of service to the Holy Father by placing their expertise at the disposition of local churches and church leaders. Commission members have also been invited to give talks and take part in various conferences and workshops on all five continents.
These include: talks and workshops held in Australia, in the Archdiocese of Melbourne; in South Africa (SACBC), an orientation program for New Missionaries; in the Philippines [CBCP], a workshop for the Archdiocese of Manila; in Colombia, a talk with clergy of the Archdiocese of Bogotá, a workshop with religious communities, workshops with the Major Seminary and a workshop with evangelization leaders; USA, a talk with “United States National Safe Environment and Victims Assistance Coordinators”; a workshop in Fiji; in New Zealand a series of talks and workshops with the bishops and religious leaders; in Ghana a meeting with the secretary generals of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar from the Association of [SECAM]; a meeting in Tanzania with child protection practitioners from the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa [AMECEA] in Argentina, a discussion with seminarians and clergy of the Diocese of Moron, Buenos Aires; In Santo Domingo, a meeting with fifty formators from thirteen different nations belonging to the Council of Latin American Bishops Conferences [CELAM]; a meeting with Bishops and canonists of Slovakia and Czech Republic; in Italy, a seminar for Abbots of the Benedictine Confederation and participation in the Anglophone Safeguarding Conference.
In the context of the Vatican, Commission members were invited to address meetings of the Pontifical Ecclesiastic Academy and the Congregation for Consecrated Life.
In the coming week members have also been invited to address the training for new bishops held by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, a meeting of the Congregation for the Clergy and the training for new Bishops held by the Congregation for bishops.
Other education programs planned in the coming months include workshops in Mexico, Ecuador and with the Colombian Bishops Conference. The Commission has also been asked to address the Conference of Major Superiors of Men in the US and to hold a workshop for the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences [FABC].
Day of Prayer
A survivor of clerical child sexual abuse made the proposal of a Day of Prayer to the Commission. The Commission believes that prayer is one part of the healing process for survivors and the community of believers. Public prayer is also an important way of consciousness raising in the Church.
The Holy Father has requested that National Bishops Conferences choose an appropriate day on which to pray for the survivors and victims of sexual abuse as part of a Universal Day of Prayer initiative.
The Commission was happy to learn that many Bishops Conferences have already taken steps to enact the proposal.
We were informed that in Australia, the Church throughout the country marked the Day of Prayer on Sunday September 11, in conjunction with their National Day for Child Protection.
The Bishops of the Philippines have already begun to discuss how best to implement the Day of Prayer and will soon announce a date.
The Southern African Bishops Conferences [SACBC] have embraced the proposal dedicating three days to the initiative from Friday December 2 to Sunday December 4., the second Sunday of Advent. Friday will be observed as a day of fasting, there will be a penitential vigil on Saturday and on Sunday a statement prepared by the SACBC, will be read out in all parishes.
The PCPM has prepared resources and materials for the Universal Day of Prayer and we are happy to make them available on request.
MOTU PROPRIO “As a Loving Mother”
The Holy Father’s motu proprio “As a Loving Mother” was discussed. Accountability in dealing with the scandal of child sexual abuse by clergy has been a major concern for the Commission from the outset. In February 2015, the Commission made a proposal to the Holy Father regarding bishop accountability. In “As a Loving Mother”, Pope Francis goes beyond the accountability of bishops broadening it to other Church leaders. The Commission has welcomed this.
Coming soon the PCPM Website
Our presence in the digital world is seen as key to furthering the Commission’s efforts to collaborate with local Churches and disseminate the importance of the protection and safeguarding of minors and vulnerable adults. In the coming months the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors will be going live with its own website. It is also our hope that it will be a useful resource for the Church and all people of good will in our common goal, which is to make our Church and our society a safe home for all.
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was created by Pope Francis in March of 2014. The Chirograph of His Holiness Pope Francis states specifically, “The Commission’s specific task is to propose to me the most opportune initiatives for protecting minors and vulnerable adults, in order that we may do everything possible to ensure that crimes such as those which have occurred are no longer repeated in the Church. The Commission is to promote local responsibility in the particular Churches, uniting their efforts to those of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the protection of all children and vulnerable adults.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Divisions destroy the Church, and the devil seeks to attack the root of unity: the celebration of the Eucharist. That was the message of Pope Francis on Monday morning at the daily Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, on the feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Commenting on the reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians — where St Paul rebuked the Corinthians for their contentiousness — Pope Francis said, “The devil has two very powerful weapons to destroy the Church: divisions and money.” And this has happened from the beginning: “ideological, theological divisions that lacerate the Church. The devil sows jealousy, ambitions, ideas, but to divide! Or greed.” And, as happens after a war, “everything is destroyed. And the devil is pleased. And we, naïve as we are, are his game.” “It is a dirty war, that of divisions,” he repeated. “It’s like terrorism,” the war of gossiping in the community, that of language that kills”:
“And the divisions in the Church do not allow the Kingdom to grow; they do not allow the Lord to be seen as He is. Divisions make you see this part, this one against the other. Always against! There is no oil of unity, the balsam of unity. But the devil goes elsewhere, not only in the Christian community, he goes right to the root of Christian unity. And this happens here, in the city of Corinth, to the Corinthians. Paul rebukes them precisely because divisions arise, right at the heart of unity, that is, in the Eucharistic celebration.”
In the case of Corinth, riches make divisions between the rich and the poor precisely during the Eucharist. Jesus, the Pope said, “prayed to the Father for unity. But the devil seeks to destroy it” even there:
“I ask you to everything possible to not destroy the Church with divisions; they are ideological, they come from greed and ambition, they come from jealousy. And above all to pray, and to keep the founts, the very roots of the unity of the Church, which is the Body of Christ; which we, every day, celebrate [in] His sacrifice in the Eucharist.”
Saint Paul speaks about the divisions among the Corinthians, two thousand years ago:
“Paul could say this to all of us today, to the Church of today. ‘Brothers, in this I cannot praise you, because you are gathered together not for the better, but for the worse!’ But the Church gathers everyone together — for the worse, for divisions: for the worse! To soil the Body of Christ in the Eucharistic celebration! And the same Paul tells us, in another passage: ‘He who eats and drinks the Body and the Blood of Christ unworthily, eats and drinks his own condemnation.’ Let us ask the Lord for the unity of the Church, that there may not be divisions. And for unity also in the root of the Church, which is precisely the sacrifice of Christ, which we celebrate every day.”
Among those present at the day’s Mass was Archbishop Arturo Antonio Szymanski Ramírez, the Archbishop emeritus of San Luis Potosí in Mexico, who turned 95 in January. Pope Francis noted his presence at the beginning of his homily, recalling that the Archbishop had taken part in the Second Vatican Council, and that he still helps in a parish. The Holy Father had received Archbishop Szymanski in an audience on Friday.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Speaking before the Marian Prayer in St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis recalled Sunday’s Gospel from Luke, considered to be the chapter of Mercy.
In these parables of the lost sheep, the coin, and the prodigal son the Pope explained that “Jesus wants to make us understand that God the Father is the first to have a welcoming and merciful attitude toward sinners.”
The Pope added that all these parables express joy and rejoicing, not sadness and sorrow.
Pope Francis underlined the Gospel reading gives hope, continuing, “there is no sin in which we have fallen, from which, by the grace of God, we cannot rise again; there is no individual beyond redemption, no one is beyond redemption, because God never ceases to want our good, even when we sin”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis, following the recitation of the Sunday Angelus had a special prayer for Gabon which is going through a time of severe political crisis.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
Speaking to the many pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square, the Pope said, “I entrust to the Lord the victims of the clashes and their families. I join the Bishops of that dear African country to invite the parties to reject all violence and to always aim for the common good. I encourage everyone, particularly Catholics, to be builders of peace within the law, in dialogue and fraternity.”
The Holy Father, also remembered Fr Ladislaus Bukowinski who was persecuted for his faith and was beatified Sunday in Karaganda in Kazakhstan. Pope Francis said that “in his life he always showed great love for the weakest and neediest and his testimony appears as a distillation of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis administered the Sacrament of Confirmation on a seriously ill young man before his Saturday Jubilee Audience in St. Peter’s Square.
16-year-old Giuseppe Chiolo, a patient of the oncological department of the Meyer Hospital in Florence, travelled to the Vatican on Saturday morning aboard an ambulance.
The Pope embraced Giuseppe before confirming him, and gifted him with a rosary as he asked the boy not to forget to pray for him.
Giuseppe had recently written a letter to Pope Francis in which he revealed his strong desire to meet with the Pope; he was immediately invited to come to the Vatican.
The Pope also had words of encouragement and comfort for Giuseppe’s parents and for his sister and aunt who were present in the Square together with the Chaplain of the Meyer Hospital and with the vice-director of the local Florentine Caritas office. He also thanked the three volunteers of Mercy who accompanied Giuseppe on his journey to Rome.
During the special Jubilee Audience Pope Francis had special words of greeting for other sick and disabled persons, including Laura Salafia who was shot by mistake six years ago and has had to undergo a series of operations and rehabilitation, and Pompeo Barbieri, a survivor of the 2002 earthquake in the southern Apulia region who has managed to become a swimming champion notwithstanding a disability that constrains him to a wheelchair.
(from Vatican Radio)…