Francis: in the Church Children Need to Be Protected and Supported

By Iacopo Scaramuzzi
Vatican Insider
January 31, 2014

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/francesco-francisco-francis-bambini-children-ninos-31702/

Children must always be protected and supported in their human and spiritual development,” Francis said in this morning’s audience with participants at the Plenary meeting of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Mgr. Gerhard Ludwig Muller. The meeting was a chance for the Pope to emphasise the importance of not portraying Catholic doctrine as an ideology, reducing it to a “bunch of abstract, crystalised theories”; it was also a chance for him to urge the Vatican dicastery to safeguard the integrity of the faith “always working with local Pastors and the doctrinal commissions of the various Episcopal Conferences. Francis asked the dicastery to dig deeper into the relationship between personal faith and celebration of the Sacrament of marriage.”

“You must think of the wellbeing of children and young people. In Christian communities they must always be protected and supported in their human and spiritual development,” Francis said, clearly alluding to the issue of clerical sex abuse of minors. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is canonically responsible for stamping out sex abuse in the Church. “we are looking into the possibility of linking your dicastery with the special commission for the protection of children which I set up and which should be seen as an example by all of those who intend to safeguard the wellbeing of children.” In December Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston and a member of the Council of Cardinals - the so-called “C8” which is helping the Pope to reform the Roman Curia and govern the universal Church - announced the decision to set up the commission.

Echoing what he said in his Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”, Francis underlined that ever since the early days of the Church, there has been a temptation to see doctrine in an ideological sense or to reduce it to a bunch of abstract, crystalised theories, when the only purpose of doctrine is in fact to guide the people of God in their daily lives and to provide a solid basis for our faith. Addressing members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Franc is said: “your job also involves making others aware of the need for a constructive, respectful and patient dialogue with the Authors. Truth demands fidelity and this grows through charity and helping those who are called to develop or clarify their beliefs.” The Pope discussed the dicastery’s method of working, saying that what “distinguishes it, is its cultivation of collegiality and dialogue.” The Church is a place of communion and we are all “called to cultivate and promote communion in the role the Lord has assigned to us.” Looking after the integrity of the faith “is a very delicate task you are entrusted with, always working with local Pastors and the doctrinal commissions of the various Episcopal Conferences.” Francis added that when faith shines in its simplicity and original purity, Church life becomes the place that reflects the full appeal of God’s life and leads to great fruits.”

Referring back to the theme of the plenary meeting which focuses on the relationship between faith and the sacrament of marriage, Francis drew participants’ attention back to what Benedict XVI said about the need to examine the relationship between private faith and the celebration of the sacrament of marriage, particularly given the changes in the cultural context we live in.” Here the Pope was referring to the speech he gave to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota in January 2013, when Benedict XVI stressed that he did “not intend to suggest any facile automatism between the lack of faith and the invalidity of the matrimonial union but rather to highlight how such a lack may, although not necessarily, also damage the goods of the marriage, since the reference to the natural order desired by God is inherent in the conjugal pact.” The dicasetry’s leader, Prefect Muller, stated that “the Church cannot respond to the increasing lack of understanding with regard to the holiness of marriage by pragmatically accepting the apparently inevitable. It must respond with full faith in God’s spirit, that we may know the gifts that God has given to us.” He explained that there is one key verb which encapsulates the work of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and that is “promote”. The Prefect referred back to what Paul VI once said: “Today faith defends itself by better promoting doctrine.” “It is precisely in order to allow the faith to shine in all its splendour that we must promote, protect and safeguard the integrity of the doctrine, both in the profession of the faith and in the practice of everyday life,” he added.