Women plunder bishops at Vatican summit

A well-known Nigerian nun has attacked the long-standing culture of silence badual abuse committed by the Catholic clergy, baderting at the summit on clerical badual abuse convened by the dad Francisco transparency and error recognition are necessary conditions to regain confidence.

Later, a Mexican journalist told bishops and superiors that by not denouncing the abuse and inform their parishioners on the predatory treatments, they become accomplices.

Between them, a German cardinal acknowledged that the church records of the aggressors had been destroyed, the victims silenced and the rules ignored, canceled or ignored, all in order to hide the scandal.

Strong messages

Sister Veronica Openibo, the Mexican correspondent Valentina Alazraki and the cardinal Reinhard Marx They sent strong messages to the 190 church leaders gathered during the third of four days of the summit chaired by Francisco, devoted to the prevention of abuse and the protection of children.

Few women, including Openibo, were invited to the meeting, and the nun took advantage of her moment in the tribune to take on church leaders for their silence in the face of such crimes. "How is it possible that the clerical church remains silent, concealing these atrocious facts?", He asked. "We must recognize that our mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency have led us to this deplorable and scandalous place in which we find ourselves as a Church. "

"Papal Secret "For his part, Marx called for a redefinition of the legal code known as the" pontifical secret " and the publication of relevant statistics. He said that this would be a first step to restore the confidence of the faithful and go to the crossroads of conspiracy theories that the Church continues to hide the abuse.

"If we do not succeed, we lose the ability to maintain a level of self-determination with respect to information or we are exposed to the suspicion of concealment," he warned. Alazraki, corresponding to the Televisa network Vatican, called for more transparency and communication about the violations. "We have decided which side we are on," he said, warning that if they did not take sides with the victims, "the journalists, who seek the common good, will be their worst enemies."

Alazraki, who started covering the Vatican during the pontificate of Paul VI, denounced the "corruption" of the hierarchy concealing the most serious scandal in the worldiglo XX, the Father Marcial Maciel, pedophile founder of the Legion of Christ.

Problem of the whole church Francisco called 190 bishops and the hierarchical superiors of the religious orders at the conference to try to make the Church understand that badual abuse is not a problem limited to a few countries but to the whole Church. The first two days were devoted to the responsibility of the hierarchy to the parishioners and how they should be held responsible if they can not protect young people from predatory priests.

The theme of yesterday was transparency and the end of the code of silence that allowed us to hide the abuse for so long. Groups of victims who gathered in Rome to protest the decades of camouflage and to call the dead parade before the Vatican "Zero tolerance". Among them was the Mexican Alberto Athie, one of the first accusers of Maciel.

Mea culpa

Meanwhile, during the liturgy that took place yesterday, the 190 hierarchies They sang a mea culpa.

"We confess that bishops, priests, deacons and Church monks have provoked violence against children and young people and that we have not protected those most in need of our help. We have protected the perpetrators and silenced those who have endured the evil, we admit that we did not recognize the suffering of many victims and did not offer help when they needed it. " in the petition of forgiveness read by the Cardinal and Archbishop of Wellington (New Zealand), John Dew.

The pope prayed and asked God "courage"

The pope prayed in front of a young Chilean victim of abuse who read his testimony before the participants of the historic summit ofVatican. Francis asked God "courage" so that the church tells the truth about these cases.

"Confident in your love and kindness, we ask you to give us the courage to tell the truth and the wisdom to acknowledge that we have sinned and that we need your forgiveness", Said Francisco.

The young man said that "any abuse, of any type, is the greatest humiliation that an individual can undergo." One must face the fact of becoming aware of not being able to stand defend against the superior force of the aggressor. You can not escape what is happening, but you have to endure it, no matter how ugly it is, "he said.

"I would like the attackers to understand that they are able to create this division among the victims. For the rest of our lives, " added the young man, who became the eighth witness heard yesterday.