Pope Francis in Venezuela: "I fear the bloodshed" – 28/01/2019

Pope Francis said that he was "afraid of the possible" bloodshed in Venezuela " and offered badistance to the warring parties "if they so wish". He did this Monday during the dialogue with journalists on board a special flight in which he returned from an apostolic tour to Panama, where took place the World Youth Day.

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"What is scary to me? Blood shed," He badured about 70 journalists who accompanied him. The Argentine pope added: "I wish the good of all the inhabitants of the country".

The reporters asked him if he would support, like many countries, the self-proclamation of Juan Guaidó as president in charge of Venezuela. Jorge Bergoglio replied that "it would be a pastoral imprudence and it would be difficult to put oneself on the side of some countries or others. "

"I have to be balanced, I do not like the word balanced, I have to be a pastor, and if they need help, by mutual agreement, they ask for it. ".

dad Francisco

Holy father

At the end of Sunday mbad in front of 700,000 young people of Panama City, at the end of the celebrations, Francis asked after the prayer of the Angelus "a just and peaceful solution to overcome the human rights crisis". 39, man. "

Optional celibacy? No

Faced with another request at the press conference, he badured that will never allow optional celibacy. "Personally, I believe that celibacy is a gift from the Church and I do not agree with optional celibacy."

The Argentine pope has left the door open the ordination of married mature men, the calls "Viri probati"which existed formerly in the Church. But he said that they could only be ordered in remote areas of the Vatican, as in the Amazon, where there is a great shortage of priests over an immense territory.

For October, a synod of the Amazon is convened where the subject of the "Viri probati", which apparently has the approval of the Church of Brazil.

He quoted the book of a theologian in which "it is said that the priesthood could be given to the bride and groom to celebrate mbad, the sacrament of reconciliation or the union of the sick, which could be interesting" .

Francisco quoted a sentence of Paul VI, with which he agrees, and which says: "I prefer to give my life before changing the law of celibacy."

The Argentine pope added that young people stood out from the Church "because of the lack of witness of Christians, priests, bishops and I can not say also popes".

He badured that the same thing happens with the laity because they exist "hypocritical Catholics that they go every Sunday to Mbad without paying extra wages or in black, they exploit people and then they leave in the Caribbean on vacation"

Asked about the meeting of presidents of episcopal conferences at the end of February at the Vatican, Francisco replied that he had summoned them because he wanted the bademblies of bishops. be aware of what "the drama of an abused child means""It is necessary that the bishops" become aware of this tragedy, "said the pope.

He said that at a meeting of the G9, the group of cardinals advising him in the church government, the idea of ​​the summit meeting between 21 and 24 February at the Vatican was launched because G9 members understood what the bishops did not know what to do in case management of abuse and "doing good things and bad things".

He reiterated that the first thing to do is to "become aware" of the damage done to the victims. This will be the first time that more than 30 presidents of world episcopal conferences will meet at a summit with the Pope at the Vatican.

Francisco said that "the expectations were a little swollen" on the results of the meeting "because the problem of abuse will continue: it is human and this is happening everywhere". He recalled that statistics indicate that only 5% of cases result in a conviction and that "it is terrible".

Sex education and abortion

The Pope defended the importance of bad education by answering another question about the many teenage pregnancies in some Central American countries. "Sex is a gift from God, it is not the cuckoo, it is a gift of God to love, that some people use it to earn money or exploiting others, that's another problem, but bad education has to be objective, "he explained.

The Holy Father was also asked whether radical positions against abortion respect the suffering of women in this situation and whether it corresponds to their message of mercy.

"The message of mercy is for everyone, even for the human person who is pregnant," said Francisco, before continuing: "After this failure, mercy also exists, but a mercy difficult, because the problem does not exist. is not to forgive, accompany a woman who realized that she had an abortion. These are terrible dramas. A woman when she thinks about what she did … You have to be in the confessional, you have to comfort him and for that, I gave to all the priests the faculty to absolve the Abortion to obtain mercy (…) with God, Reconciliation is already there, God always forgives. But you must also explain what happened. "

Vatican correspondent