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"May the protection of minors be ever more concretely a priority in the Church's educational activity," Francis says in message to Rome conference
By Loup Besmond de Senneville | Vatican City
Pope Francis has told a conference of Italian Catholic lay associations in Rome that the Church has been shamed by the sex abuse crisis and must to better to protect children and adolescents.
In a message sent Thursday to the gathering, the pope endorsed the setting up of training courses for "all those who have educational responsibilities and work in environments with minors", especially "in the Church".
"Only in this way, with a systematic preventive alliance, will it be possible to eradicate the culture of death that is the bearer of every form of abuse, whether sexual, of conscience or of power," the pope said in the message.
"Prevention must be a permanent path"
The conference was organized by the Pope John XXIII Community Association, Italian Catholic Action and the Italian Sports Center.
The groups' leaders have spent the past two years working on protocols for the prevention of all types of abuse in collaboration with the Center for Victimology and Safety at the University of Bologna.
"Abuse is an act of betrayal of trust," Francis told them.
He said abuse "condemns (victims) to death".
"Prevention must be a permanent path of promotion for an ever-renewed and certain trustworthiness," he added.
The pope called on all adults to "oppose by all means the temptations of seduction and enticement, which only superficially facilitates relations with the younger generations".
"Domination, disfigurement of intimacy and complicit silence"
The pope said training courses would help adults to "continue to be credible" and "consistent in their witness".
"As lay associations, I urge you to persevere in this training process towards co-responsibility, dialogue and transparency," he emphasized.
"May the protection of minors be ever more concretely a priority in the Church's educational activity," the pope continued.
He said this would help combat "every form of domination, disfigurement of intimacy and complicit silence".
Earlier in the week, Francis sent another letter on sexual abuse to Archbishop Eric de Moulins Beaufort, president of the French Bishops' Conference (CEF).
It came as the conference was to begin its November 2-8 plenary assembly in Lourdes.
"I encourage you to carry your burden with faith and hope, and I carry it with you," he said, after referring to "the storm caused by the shame and drama of the abuse of minors in the Church".
While saying he is "certain" that the French bishops will find "ways to honor and console the victims", he encouraged them to "take all the necessary steps to make the Church a safe home for all".
"Do not doubt that the people of France are waiting for the Good News of Christ, they need it more than ever," Francis continued.
He reiterated his "support" for the bishops and "the immense majority of your priests who fulfill their ministry with generosity and dedication, and whose beautiful vocation is, unfortunately, being sullied".
His "shame" and his "sadness"
The pope had already expressed his "shame" and "sadness" in the hours following the October 5 presentation of the report of France's Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE), headed by Jean-Marc Sauvé.
"[I want to express] my shame, our shame, my shame that for so long the Church has been incapable of putting this at the center of her concerns," he said during the October 6 audience at the Vatican.
"I pray, and let us all pray together: 'To you Lord the glory, to us the shame'."
Mr. Sauvé and the members of the CIASE commission are due to meet the pope on December 9.
Vatican officials have been studying the CIASE report carefully.
The document was also the subject of intense discussions when the French bishops recently made their "ad limina" visits to Rome.
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