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In a new report from BishopAccountability—a nonprofit that tracks abuse allegations within the Catholic Church—the out-of-court settlements and civil suit cases have cost the church a staggering $3.8 billion.
Regarding the report made public in Pennsylvania this week, there are two words that can express the feelings faced with these horrible crimes: shame and sorrow.
The Holy Father understands well how much these crimes can shake the faith and the spirit of believers and reiterates the call to make every effort to create a safe environment for minors and vulnerable adults in the Church and in all of society. Victims should know that the Pope is on their side.
Those who have suffered are his priority, and the Church wants to listen to them to root out this tragic horror that destroys the lives of the innocent.
the pope used his homily at morning Mass to once again condemn accusers as allies of the devil.
The Christian path always presents a crossroads, Francis said. On the one hand there us “the invitation of the Lord” to be merciful, an invitation that is a grace, a grace of sonship, to resemble the father. On the other hand, there is “the great accuser, Satan, who urges us to accuse others, to destroy them.”
The pope’s pointed reflections came just two days after he preached a similar homily in which he said that Satan, the “Great Accuser,” has been unleashed against the bishops of the Church.
Pope Francis appealed to Sicily’s Mafia on Saturday to abandon a life of crime and violence, saying the island needed “men and women of love, not men and women ‘of honor,’” using the term mobsters apply to themselves.
“A person who is a Mafioso does not live as a Christian because with his life he blasphemes against the name of God,” Francis said in the sermon of a Mass from some 80,000 people in the port area of the Sicilian capital.
originally posted by: FlukeSkywalker
a reply to: Prene
Tis better to have faith than to accept an unacceptable truth...
(and perhaps faith is the key to the REAL truth)
God describes Himself as a shepherd and we His people as the sheep of His flock. Those whom He sends to care for us are likewise called shepherds.
"A good shepherd, a pastor after God's heart, is the greatest treasure which the good Lord can grant to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy"
A good shepherd protects the flock and defends it from anything harmful or dangerous.
originally posted by: FlukeSkywalker
How do any of you know for sure that many of children aren't simply young bodies being inhabited by adult spirits and/or demonic entities who purposely entice the priests, who they know will give in easily ? I mean, how do you REALLY KNOW this isn't happening and actually the result of these children being allies of the devil?
Look, I'm not trying to be controversial...or creepy. I'm speaking about hidden energy. Secrets of our existence, etc. Everything is not black and white and I believe there is a possibility that some children are possessed by demonic entities who are feeding off the sexual energy released when these kinds of forbidden things occur. Should the priests be able to control themselves? Maybe? Or maybe they know the truth and no one objectively observing knows the truth, therefore should not be able to make a proper judgement?
-not a priest, just a theorizer
The case of the pregnant 9-year-old was shocking enough. But it was the response of the Catholic Church that infuriated many Brazilians. Archibishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of the coastal city of Recife announced that the Vatican was excommunicating the family of a local girl who had been raped and impregnated with twins by her stepfather, because they had chosen to have the girl undergo an abortion. The Church excommunicated the doctors who performed the procedure as well. "God's laws," said the archbishop, dictate that abortion is a sin and that transgressors are no longer welcome in the Roman Catholic Church. "They took the life of an innocent," Sobrinho told TIME in a telephone interview. "Abortion is much more serious than killing an adult. An adult may or may not be an innocent, but an unborn child is most definitely innocent. Taking that life cannot be ignored."
content.time.com...
originally posted by: Whatthedoctorordered
Maybe the predictions were true that he would indeed be the last pope.
Because he is systematically destroying his own church.