"No bishop can say that the abuses are not …

From Rome

"We must be willing to pay the price" of what happened and "have the humility to admit that we are not perfect", we need "courage and dedication". "boldness" because the path we will take will not be easy, said the Archbishop of Bombay and President of Bombay this morning. The Episcopal Conference of India, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, on the second day of the World Meeting on Sexual Abuse in the Church to be held until Sunday at the Vatican.

The Cardinal of India, who is also part of the group of cardinals who advise Pope Francis, has pointed his finger against the proud who do not want to recognize their own mistakes or those of people under their control.

"No bishop should be alone in dealing with this problem, no bishop can say that abuse does not affect him because in his country it is different." That's not true. There are cases all over the world, but even if it was true, we must be aware that we must face the problem together, we are responsible for the whole Church, "he said. And later, he added: "We must not pretend that we are perfect (…) Sometimes we ignore the contribution of our brothers who say that only the Pope can give us orders".

According to the Indian cardinal, the tragedy of badual abuse has revealed the presence of a set of factors, including psychopathologies, social environments that consent to abuse, pastoral responses inexistent or erroneous. "It's hard to fix, we have to admit we've made mistakes." Dealing with abuse is a big challenge, perhaps unprecedented in history (…) Sexual abuse is not limited to the Church's environment, "and in taking the steps that need to be taken," the church could become a model of child advocacy ".

The two cardinals who spoke this morning agreed on the measures to be taken: to elaborate "preventive measures" and deal with the victims, not only by listening to them, but also by giving them justice by collaborating with the civil authorities of each country with regard to complaints. To develop lines of behavior, it is necessary to "consult experts in civil law," said Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, United States, and member of the organizing committee of this conference. "All the mechanisms must be transparent and known to the faithful," he added, adding that each episcopal conference had to take special measures to meet the needs of each country. "If there is no real awareness of personal responsibility and the organization of bishops, it will be difficult to do our job," he said later. during the daily press conference held at the Vatican.

The conference also highlighted other incisive details for the Vatican, such as the fact that there have never been any figures on cases of abuse. "There is a willingness to work on this, a lot of work on the numbers has not been done yet, but it will be done," said Archbishop Charles Scicluna, a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine. Faith receiving complaints within the Church and one of the organizers of the meeting. He will try to better understand where and how these phenomena are presented, how many cases there are, what are the geographical areas, etc., he explained.

Before beginning this morning's session, the moderator and former spokesman for the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, presented to the 190 participants a series of documents prepared by the United Nations on violence and abuse in the country. in respect of minors. "This meeting, this ecclesial commitment, is part of a global fight against violence against children and we can make a contribution to this struggle," he said.