Vatican City – Pope Francis asked this Tuesday for “forgiveness” to those who have been “wounded” by all the “sins” of the Church and expressed his “shame” for it, in a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica in the that seven cardinals apologized for various misdeeds committed by the clergy, including sexual abuse.
“We ask forgiveness for all our sins. We ask forgiveness, feeling ashamed, of those who have been wounded by our sins,” the pope said in an unprecedented ‘penitential vigil’ prior to the Synod, the assembly of bishops that begins this Wednesday to address the most important issues for the Church.
Francis wanted to personally write “the requests for forgiveness read by some cardinals because it was necessary to call our main sins by name,” such as “the lack of courage to fight against peace,” the conversion of the world “from an oasis to a desert.” “and sins against indigenous peoples, migrants and women, among others.
“How could we be credible if we do not recognize our mistakes and are inclined to heal the wounds we have caused with our sins? Healing begins by confessing the sin we have committed,” he said.
The ceremony also included the testimony of three victims of these sins: a South African barton who suffered sexual abuse by a member of the Catholic clergy, a nun originally from Syria who suffered the horrors of war and a migrant from the Ivory Coast who survived the violence of migratory routes.
Among the cardinals who read the petitions for forgiveness stood out Sen. Patrick O’Malley, head of the Vatican commission that combats sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church.
“I ask for forgiveness, feeling ashamed, for all the times that we faithful have been complicit and directly committed abuses of conscience, abuses of power and sexual abuses,” he said, before showing “shame and pain when thinking especially about the sexual abuses against minors and vulnerable people”, who are “weak and defenseless”, and those who “robbed their innocence”.
In turn, he expressed apologies for the religious who took advantage of their position to do so: “We have used the condition of the ordained ministry and consecrated life to commit this terrible sin, feeling safe and protected and diabolically taking advantage of the small and poor.” , O’Malley lamented.
Other cardinals, including the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Argentine Victor Manuel Fernández, intervened to ask forgiveness for other sins, among them “against peace, against indigenous populations, against immigrants, against women, the family and young people, against poverty and against the lack of listening, communion and participation of all.
“I ask for forgiveness, feeling ashamed for all the times that we have given doctrinal justification for inhuman treatment,” Fernández implored as Francisco looked on.
For his part, Cardinal Michael Czerny apologized for not always recognizing “the right and dignity of every human person, discriminating and exploiting them,” and “particularly in indigenous peoples,” as well as for “when we have been complicit in systems that favored slavery and colonialism”.
For Francis, “confession is an opportunity to restore trust in the church, trust broken by our errors and sins,” he exclaimed, urging “to begin to heal the wounds that do not stop bleeding.”
“We ask forgiveness for all our sins, help us to restore your face that we have disfigured by our infidelity,” the pope said before concluding by asking “forgiveness, feeling ashamed, to those who have been hurt by our sins. We all ask forgiveness, we are all sinners.” “.