“Getting to the root of problems”

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Pope Francis in talks with Chilean bishops © Vatican Media (CBA)

Pope Francis has ended his three-day talks with Chile's bishops on how to deal with the abuse scandal there. At the conclusion, Francis handed each of the bishops a letter and announced personnel consequences.

Pope Francis has announced personnel consequences in a confidential document following the abuse crisis in the Chilean church. However, it is not enough to "only deal with the concrete cases and remove the people in question," the letter, published Friday night by Chilean broadcaster Canal 13, said. "This – and I say this in all clarity – must be done, but it is not enough. 'More needs to be done,' Francis says.

The pope had handed the document to Chile's 34 bishops Tuesday at the start of a meeting at the Vatican to deal with the scandal in the South American country. The three-day talks came to an end on Thursday evening. A press conference of the bishops was announced for Friday noon in Rome.

"Worrying findings"

In the ten-page letter that has now become public, Francis explains that there is an "aching, open wound". This, he said, has so far been treated with a medicine that seems to have done more harm than good. "It would be a grave omission not to tackle the problems at the root."

The pope speaks of troubling findings that his two special investigators, Archbishop Charles Scicluna and legal expert Jordi Bertomeu, unearthed in February during their research in Chile. For example, he said, several clergy who had been removed for "immoral behavior" had been reinstated in other dioceses. On top of that, they have been entrusted with tasks involving "a daily and direct contact with minors".

Clarification work deliberately obstructed

The investigation shows that there were "gross errors" in the handling of abuse cases, Francis acknowledges. He feels "shame" because in several cases the clarification work has been deliberately obstructed.

The pope also criticizes an "elitist attitude" of some clergy that harms the church because it leads to division and "closed circles". Such persons are only concerned with feeling special – different from the others. They were not really interested in Jesus or in their fellow human beings. Such an attitude, Francis said, is a "perversion in the ecclesiastical existence".

"Restoring justice"

Previously, a first letter had already become known, which Pope Francis had given the bishops to take with them. In it, the Pope expressed gratitude for the "full willingness" to cooperate in all the changes and decisions necessary to restore justice and a sense of community within the Church.

In recent days, they have dealt with "painful incidents," the pope said. There had been abuse in many forms – with tragic consequences for the victims. Francis expressed gratitude for the unstinting willingness everyone has shown, which is needed to make change happen. Short-, medium- and long-term steps are now needed to restore justice and ecclesial communion, the church leader announced. A statement from the bishops' spokesman has been announced for Friday. The talks focused on accusations against Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno and other bishops of covering up sexual offenses against minors and preventing them from being cleared up.

"Great importance for the entire church"

Already at the beginning of Tuesday's deliberations, Francis had given each of the 34 participants a text with some themes to meditate on. This should be studied by everyone until the second meeting on Wednesday afternoon and meditate on it. Two other meetings were held Thursday. It is not yet known whether the pope asked the bishops for individual talks beyond that.

According to Spanish theologian Jordi Bertomeu, the meeting has "great importance for the entire Church". "I believe we are making history," Bertomeu said Thursday. Together with the Maltese archbishop Charles Scicluna he had questioned 64 Chilean abuse victims in February. He expected consequences soon, Bertomeu said. Unlike the abuse scandals in the U.S. and Ireland, Chile is not only about sexual abuse, but also about abuse of power.

"Examining responsibility before God"

The Vatican had announced the meeting with Chile's bishops as a "synodal process". The goal, he said, was to "examine together before God the responsibility of everyone and everything in these devastating violations.". Furthermore, it is about the search for "appropriate and sustainable changes to prevent the repetition of such always condemnable acts".

The meeting was invited by Pope Francis a month ago in a letter in which he asked for an apology. In January of this year, the Pope had visited Chile for a pastoral trip, to a journalist he had rejected allegations against a bishop as "slander".

There was Easter cheer, despite the persistent rain. Tens of thousands of faithful had come to St. Peter's Square to celebrate new beginnings through Jesus' resurrection. The wet and cold weather on this Easter Sunday was symptomatic of the dark cloud under which the Catholic Church is currently in the media public eye.

Benedict XVI spoke of beginning and renewal. in his Easter message. Traditionally, he uses this opportunity to highlight international trouble spots live on more than 100 television channels around the world. Now he brought to the fore the biblical motif of the Exodus, symbol of the transition from the reign of sin to forgiveness. A "spiritual and moral transformation" was called for by the pope. A transformation with the help of the Gospel to "come out of a crisis that is deep and therefore requires deep changes, starting with people's consciences." He had previously interpreted the early Christian baptismal rite in a similar way at the Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica, with its rejection of Satan. It is necessary to put away fornication and immorality, "garments of death". Baptism, he said, is only the beginning of a lifelong process of conversion. He did not address the ie of abuse or questions of guilt and responsibility in more concrete terms. In the fundamental he remained also on Good Friday evening, when he entrusted to Jesus the unsuccessfulnesses and bitternesses of life. In all the great ceremonies of these days, he spoke as a teacher of his Church, theologically penetrated, with spiritual depth. He chose words that have validity beyond current events.

Backing of the cardinals It was left to Angelo Sodano, the highest-ranking cardinal of the Curia, to be more specific. He spoke in defense of his longtime cardinal colleague Ratzinger, whom he now defended as pope. At start of Easter Mass, he publicly ared him of cardinals' backing. The entire community of Catholics rallied around him, the "immaculate rock of Christ's holy Church," he said in an unusual solidarity address. "The people of God are with you."In his long years as cardinal secretary of state, Sodano was once the most powerful churchman alongside the prefect of the faith, Joseph Ratzinger. Unlike the intransigent German, immovable in matters of faith and morals, Sodano was considered at the time to be the one at the head of the Curia who preferred diplomatic solutions whenever possible. All the stronger his current words: the Church remains unimpressed by the "chatter of the moment". He moved Benedict XVI. Even close to the suffering Christ, who was reviled without reviling. The tone of the defense is becoming more resolute at the top of the Church. In its Easter edition, the Vatican newspaper "Osservatore Romano" scolded the abuse debate as "clumsy propaganda against the pope and Catholics". From Paris and Lima, Mexico City, Madrid and other episcopal sees, the paper carried statements of solidarity from cardinals against the "slanderous attacks and defamation campaign constructed around the drama of the sexual abuse cases".

House preacher wants to help The papal house preacher Raniero Cantalamessa had also attempted an exculpatory blow. At the Good Friday service in St. Peter's Basilica, he quoted a Jewish friend: the use of stereotypes and the shift from personal to collective guilt in the abuse debate are "reminiscent of the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism". Jewish organizations protested, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi distanced himself the same evening. Cantalamessa rowed back on Sunday: in an interview he asked Jews and pedophilia victims to apologize. He had only wanted to lead a "testimony of solidarity for the Pope, who is currently so violently attacked" from the Jewish side. And: the text had not been proofread anywhere in the Vatican. However, when an experienced preacher like Cantalamessa gallops off like this, it shows how much the media bombardment has frayed the nerves of some churchmen. Traditionally, a quieter time now begins at the Vatican. After the exhausting ceremonies, the 82-year-old pope retires to his country estate in Castelgandolfo for a few days of relaxation. With the last blast of the papal gendarmerie band after the blessing "Urbi et orbi" the Roman Easter was over. The cardinals with their silk birettos ruined by the rain hurriedly moved into the basilica, the mass of faithful quickly dispersed. Half an hour later, the skies brightened.

"I should not be James at all. I also should not be Brown at all. I wasn't supposed to be alive at all". With these words begins the autobiography of James Brown. Today, the U.S. musician, who was born 75 years ago, is considered the "King of Soul". Even two years after his death, the enthusiasm Unbroken.

The Augusta Museum in Georgia plans to celebrate the birthday on 3. May a festival, and quite a few fans will make a pilgrimage to the tombstone or the legendary Apollo Theater in New York, where his career began.James Joe Brown Jr. was born in 1933 in Barnwell in the US state of South Carolina. He grew up in poor circumstances, stole and cheated, until he finally ended up in prison. Music helped him survive: "Gospel is the epitome of contentment," he later recalled. His first band was called "Flames," and "Please, Please, Please" became his first million-selling hit in 1957.From then on, the star of the African-American musician rose unstoppable.In the mid-60s, James Brown brought in teenage bassist William "Bootsy" Collins. This shaped the new sound of the band: the music became duller and more rhythmic, a beat of its own emerged: "The One" made the masses dance and shaped generations of musicians.

"Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud." Glitter suits and go-go girls made James Brown the perfect showman, without him forgetting his roots: With the hit "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud," he became a cultural idol of the black civil rights movement. After the assassination of Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King in 1968, live broadcasts of the concerts on television helped prevent riots in some American cities.James Brown's musical style changed in the 1970s. From soul to funk. Now Brown squeezed into tight bell-bottoms and made the girls scream with his "Sex Machine" or donned a purple robe to play a freaky preacher in the cult movie "The Blues Brothers". Along the way, he founded a recording studio, a publishing house and his own beer brand.

Michael Jackson: He taught me everything For musicians of all stripes, Brown was both an inspiration and a source of hostility. "He taught me everything" Michael Jackson once declared, and in fact the latter's "Moonwalk" dance was only a sad imitation of James Brown's "Night Train Dance".Brown repeatedly ran afoul of the law, among other things for drug trafficking. He went on trial for mistreating his wife. In 1986 he succeeded in making a comeback with "Living In America. He has long been courted in newspapers and television shows as the "Godfather of Soul" or "Dr. Feelgood. Feelgood". In 1992, Brown received the Grammy for his life's work, and he was given his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.James Brown died of heart failure in Atlanta on Christmas 2006.After his death, fans made a pilgrimage to New York's Apollo Theater.There lay the musician laid out in a blue silk suit and silver shoes, behind him a floral arrangement with the term "Godfather" written on it. Hundreds of thousands took leave of him. James Brown left behind six children from four marriages – and his music.

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