LISBON (PORTUGAL)
Portugal Resident [Lagoa, Portugal]
May 21, 2024
By Natasha Donn
Bishops will have audience with Pope on Friday
Portugal’s Roman Catholic bishops begin an ‘ad Limina Apostolorum’ visit to the Vatican today, with the issue of historic sexual abuse of children at the hands of the clergy over the years being just one that will come under discussion.
These ‘ad Limina’ visits take place every five years – this one was supposed to have taken place in 2020, but had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition to meetings between the prelates and various dicasteries of the Holy See, the bishops will also meet the Pope, on the last day of their visit (Friday).
Canon law in the Church establishes that “the Diocesan Bishop has the obligation to present to the Supreme Pontiff, every five years, a report on the situation of the diocese entrusted to him.”
According to the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP), in this report the bishops give the Holy See an account of their administration of their diocese.
Yesterday, CEP president, José Ornelas, said the bishops would be transmitting a “realistic view” of the situation in Portugal, including the crisis surrounding historic sexual abuse within the Church.
“We’re taking this seriously, because we don’t think you play with people’s feelings and pain,” Ornelas said in a joint interview with the Ecclesia news agency and Rádio Renascença, Portugal’s main Catholic broadcaster.
According to the programme released by the CEP, the delegation’s first meeting in Rome will be with the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, whose second assembly is to take place in the Vatican in October.
In addition to the meetings in the various Vatican dicasteries, visits to the tombs of the apostles and the meeting with the Pope, a dinner is also planned at Portugal’s embassy to the Holy See.
Source: LUSA