Pope: for the Church a year of joys and afflictions, amid abuses and new martyrs

In his meeting with the Curia for Christmas greetings, Francis retraced the past year, " external and internal amid successes and difficulties". In the face of abuse "the Church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes". The joys for the new blessed and also for the many consecrated who "live their vocation daily in fidelity, silence, holiness and self-denial".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Church has had a year "mid joys and afflictions, amid successes and difficulties from within and from without". There are "there are consecrated men, “the Lord’s anointed”, who abuse the vulnerable, taking advantage of their position and their power of persuasion. They perform abominable acts yet continue to exercise their ministry as if nothing had happened. They have no fear of God "; there are those who "sow weeds", migrants who find death or barred doors, children who die from war or poverty, Christians killed for their fidelity to Jesus. These are "afflictions" on the path of the Church , indicated today by Pope Francis in the long speech addressed to the Roman Curia, received for the presentation of Christmas greetings.

But there were also "joys": "the successful outcome of the Synod dedicated to the young", "the steps taken so far in the reform of the Curia", "the new Blesseds and Saints who are the 'precious stones' that adorn the face of Church and irradiate in the world hope, faith and light" and "also the great number of consecrated and consecrated persons, bishops and priests, who daily live their vocation in fidelity, silence, holiness and self-denial".

The meeting with the Curia for Christmas greetings is traditionally the occasion in which the Pope traces the past year "internal" to the Church, while the meeting with the diplomatic corps at the beginning of the new year is the moment for a look at the world.

So again this year, in the certainty that " Christmas fills us with joy and makes us certain that no sin will ever be greater than God’s mercy; no act of ours can ever prevent the dawn of his divine light from rising ever anew in human hearts". " Each year, Christmas reminds us that God’s salvation, freely bestowed on all humanity, the Church and in particular on us, consecrated persons, does not act independently of our will, our cooperation, our freedom and our daily efforts. Salvation is a gift that must be accepted, cherished and made to bear fruit (cf. Mt 25:14-30). Being Christian, in general and for us in particular as the Lord’s anointed and consecrated, does not mean acting like an élite group who think they have God in their pocket, but as persons who know that they are loved by the Lord despite being unworthy sinners. Those who are consecrated are nothing but servants in the vineyard of the Lord, who must hand over in due time the harvest and its gain to the owner of the vineyard (cf. Mt 20:1-16)".

“There are many afflictions". Franciscited immigrants who "meet death, or those who survive but find the doors closed". "How much fear and prejudice!". And " All those people, and especially those children who die each day for lack of water, food and medicine! All that poverty and destitution! All that violence directed against the vulnerable and against women! All those theatres of war both declared and undeclared. All that innocent blood spilled daily! All that inhumanity and brutality around us! All those persons who even today are systematically tortured in police custody, in prisons and in refugee camps in various parts of the world!"

Again: "we also live, in reality, a new age of martyrs". "New extremist groups are multiplying by targeting churches, places of worship, ministers and simple faithful. New and old circles and conventicles live feeding on hatred and hostility towards Christ, the Church and believers ".

But above all, in Francis's speech there is "the counter-witness and the scandals of some sons and ministers of the Church".

Like the biblical David, "today too, there are many Davids who, without batting an eye, enter into the web of corruption and betray God, his commandments, their own vocation, the Church, the people of God and the trust of little ones and their families. Often behind their boundless amiability, impeccable activity and angelic faces, they shamelessly conceal a vicious wolf ready to devour innocent souls".

" Let it be clear that before these abominations the Church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes. The Church will never seek to hush up or not take seriously any case. It is undeniable that some in the past, out of irresponsibility, disbelief, lack of training, inexperience, or spiritual and human short-sightedness, treated many cases without the seriousness and promptness that was due. That must never happen again. This is the choice and the decision of the whole Church. This coming February, the Church will restate her firm resolve to pursue unstintingly a path of purification. She will question, with the help of experts, how best to protect children, to avoid these tragedies, to bring healing and restoration to the victims, and to improve the training imparted in seminaries. An effort will be made to make past mistakes opportunities for eliminating this scourge, not only from the body of the Church but also from that of society. For if this grave tragedy has involved some consecrated ministers, we can ask how deeply rooted it may be in our societies and in our families. Consequently, the Church will not be limited to healing her own wounds, but will seek to deal squarely with this evil that causes the slow death of so many persons, on the moral, psychological and human levels."

"To those who abuse minors I would say this: convert and hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice".

The last "affliction" is " the infidelity of those who betray their vocation, their sworn promise, their mission and their consecration to God and the Church. They hide behind good intentions in order to stab their brothers and sisters in the back and to sow weeds, division and bewilderment. They always find excuses, including intellectual and spiritual excuses, to progress unperturbed on the path to perdition. This is nothing new in the Church’s history. Saint Augustine, in speaking of the good seed and the weeds, says: “Do you perhaps believe, brethren, that weeds cannot spring up even on the thrones of bishops? Do you perhaps think that this is found only lower down and not higher up? Heaven forbid that we be weeds!… Even on the thrones of bishops good grain and weeds can be found; even in the different communities of the faithful good grain and weeds can be found (Serm. 73, 4: PL 38, 472). These words of Saint Augustine urge us to remember the old proverb: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”. They help us realize that the Tempter, the Great Accuser, is the one who brings division, sows discord, insinuates enmity, persuades God’s children and causes them to doubt. Behind these sowers of weeds, we always find the thirty pieces of silver".

" All of us, then, in order to make Christ’s light shine forth, have the duty to combat all spiritual corruption, which is “worse than the fall of the sinner, for it is a comfortable and self-satisfied form of blindness. Everything then appears acceptable: deception, slander, egotism and other subtle forms of self-centeredness, for ‘even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light’ (2 Cor 11:14). So Solomon ended his days, whereas David, who sinned greatly, was able to make up for his disgrace” (Gaudete et Exsultate, 165)".

But in the past year there have also been "joys". "They were numerous this year, "said Francis, recalling, in particular, " the new Blesseds and Saints who are “precious stones” adorning the face of the Church and radiating hope, faith and light in our world. Here mention must be made of the nineteen recent martyrs of Algeria: “nineteen lives given for Christ, for his Gospel and for the Algerian people … models of everyday holiness, the holiness of “the saints next door” (Thomas Georgeon, “Nel segno della fraternità”, L’Osservatore Romano, 8 December 2018, p. 6). Then too, the great number of the faithful who each year receive baptism and thus renew the youth of the Church as a fruitful mother, and the many of her children who come home and re-embrace the Christian faith and life. All those families and parents who take their faith seriously and daily pass it on to their children by the joy of their love (cf. Amoris Laetitia, 259-290). And the witness given by so many young people who courageously choose the consecrated life and the priesthood".

"A real reason for joy" is also the large number of people, bishops, priests, men and women religious, "who work patiently, out of love for Christ and his Gospel, for the poor, the oppressed and the last, without seeking to get on the front pages of newspapers or to occupy the first places. People who, leaving everything and offering their lives, bring the light of faith where Christ is abandoned, thirsty, hungry, imprisoned and naked (cf. Mt 25: 31-46) ".

At Christmas, concluded Francis, we must "open our hearts to the true light, Jesus Christ. He is the light that can illumine life and turn our darkness into light; the light of goodness that conquers evil; the light of the love that overcomes hatred; the light of the life that triumphs over death; the divine light that turns everything and everyone into light. He is the light of our God: poor and rich, merciful and just, present and hidden, small and great".