Francisco opened the door to sex education, but closed it to celibacy in the church

While the Catholic Church is plunged into a crisis caused by dozens of denunciations against the clergy for badual abuse, the dad Francisco closed the doors to celibacy "by choice" for priests, in an interview with the press during a return flight from Panama to Rome after World Youth Day. "I will not do it". "Am I closed? Maybe I do not see myself facing God with this decision."

"A sentence of St. Paul VI comes to mind. "I prefer to give my life before changing the law of celibacy", said the Argentine pontiff. "It's a courageous phrase, at a more difficult time than that, personally, I think that celibacy is a gift to the church, and I do not think that optional celibacy is allowed, no. […] It's something personal, I will not do it. But I do not feel able to put myself in front of God with this decision. "

Francisco, however, spoke of "some possibilities" where "there is a pastoral problem due to lack of priests" and gave the example of the Pacific Islands. But not with a complete priestly ordination: "theologians must study" the question, the so-called "viri probati", former brides deemed able to provide a sacrament in the absence of priests.

On the summit called to the Vatican to face the plague of pedophilia, explained that the objectives are "to sensitize the drama" and to indicate the protocols, the practices. But it will also be an opportunity to "ask forgiveness from all the Church". The pontiff also spoke of excessive expectations, "inflated", concerning the appointment at the end of February with the presidents of all the episcopal conferences of the world, because "The problem of abuse will continue."

"This will be prayed, testimonies will be heard, there will be liturgies of penance and requests for forgiveness for the whole Church," he said. "I would like to say that I perceived a somewhat exaggerated expectation. It is necessary to deflate the expectations on these points of which I speak. Because the problem of abuse will continue: it is a human problem everywhere, "he said, referring to the shared guilt that the Church often refers to in this regard.

"We saw that some bishops did not know what to do, they did not understand … They did one good thing and another bad, so we felt the need to give a catechesis on this problem to episcopal conferences. first be aware of it, "he said.

Sex education and abortion. At the same press conference, Francisco approved bad education in schools because "bad is a gift from God, not a monster", but he stressed that bad education should be free of "ideological colonization". : "I saw a dirty book". "The ideal" is that bad education starts in the family, but that "is not always possible because there are very varied situations in families, and so the school provides this, because otherwise there will be a void which will then be filled "by any ideology".

Finally, he addressed the issue of abortion, whose debate was submitted last year to the National Congress and bets on the strong opposition of Catholicism: God "always forgive", but the women who took this decision not only need mercy but also to be reconciled with this child who does not "The message of mercy is addressed to everyone, including the human person in the making," said the pope. After committing this error, mercy also reigns. A mercy difficult because the problem is not to forgive, but to accompany a woman who has become aware of abortion. "

"These are terrible dramas, it is necessary to be in the confessional, and to give consolation, not to attack, that is why open the power to absolve an abortion for pity" said Francisco.When they cry and have this anguish, I tell them that their son is in paradise, talk to him, sing the lullaby that they could not sing to him. And there is a reconciliation of the mother with the son, because God has already forgiven. To understand the drama of an abortion, it is necessary to be in a confessional ".

In the same interview with the press, aboard the plane that brought him back from Panama to the Vatican, Francisco called for "a just and peaceful solution" to overcome the crisis in Venezuela.