Help in coming to terms

adminonJanuary 11, 2022January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Protest banner about the abuse scandal on a house wall in Lima © Paul Haring (KNA)

In Chile, the capital diocese of Santiago has created a new body to deal with its abuse scandal. In order to be able to react more quickly in the future, a lawyer strengthens the new episcopal delegation for truth and peace.

The task of the lawyer from the Pontifical University in Santiago will include assessing allegations, accompanying victims and cooperating with civil authorities, the archdiocese said, according to Chilean media reports. It is a matter of building new trust.

The abuse scandal in Chile has been making headlines for months. The focus is on Fernando Karadima, now 88, a priest who was convicted of sexual offenses in 2011. Several bishops emerged from his circle, including Juan Barros of Osorno, accused by victims of Karadima of complicity.

More than 100 open cases

According to the public prosecutor's office, there are currently more than 100 open cases of abuse in the ranks of Chile's Catholic Church. Dozens of priests, including bishops are said to be involved.

Pope Francis had sent a special envoy to Chile to clarify the allegations and summoned the entire Chilean Bishops' Conference to the Vatican. Meanwhile, Francis accepted six other resignations from bishops in addition to Barros' resignation. Recently, the two Chilean cardinals Ricardo Ezzati (76) and Francisco Errazuriz (85) also became the focus of criticism. They are accused of covering up abuse cases in Santiago archdiocese. Both reject the accusations.

Abuse and sexualized violence: prevention is a priority alongside coming to terms with it. The vicar general in Munich, Peter Beer, has called for a greater emphasis on prevention work.

Munich's Vicar General Peter Beer argues for upgrading prevention work in the Catholic Church. The prevention commissioners should be given hearing rights, information duties and co-determination opportunities, Beer said at the opening of the German-language conference on the prevention of sexualized violence in the Catholic Church in Munich on Thursday. Representatives from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Luxembourg and Poland are taking part in the two-day meeting.

Prevention as part of the visitation order

"Can, for example, prevention officers report with consequence if a Regens rejects prevention measures in the seminary or tries to talk them down by pointing to his own efforts?" asked Beer. The vicar general further suggested that the prevention officers should be located as a staff unit at the management level of the dioceses and that prevention should be made a fixed component of the episcopal visitation order. In addition, the prevention teams should be strengthened by different professional qualifications, also involving external experts.

Pope Benedict XVI. In his New Year's sermon, called on people not to give up hope for peace in the world. Man was created for peace, even if the world is still marked by hotbeds of tension, he said at a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

As causes for the discord in the world he criticized a growing inequality between rich and poor and selfish thinking. This is expressed in an "unbridled financial capitalism". Terrorism and crime also endanger peace, Pope says.

The Catholic Church celebrated the World Day of Peace on Tuesday. This year, it was held under the biblical motto "Blessed are the Peacemakers.". The World Day of Peace was established in 1967 by Pope Paul VI. (1963-1978) introduced.

Benedict XVI. He went on to say that no suffering in the world could deprive Christians of their hope for peace. Peace is a gift from God, but it also requires human commitment. It is a matter of living according to the will of God, in peace with oneself, one's neighbor and with creation.

In his message for this year's World Day of Peace, published in December, the Pope had warned against unbridled capitalism as a danger to world peace. At the same time, he emphasized that genuine peace is not possible without the protection of human life and marriage. He also opposed the legal equality of same-sex partnerships with marriages and euthanasia.

Cologne carol singers with the Pope

Carolers from the Archdiocese of Cologne played a leading role at the Pope's New Year's Mass: Three young people from Cologne, dressed in the traditional costumes of Kaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, brought Benedict XVI a message of thanksgiving. Bread and wine to the altar. The "Magi", aged eleven and twelve, were part of a group of 20 carol singers from the parish of St. St. Nicholas and St. Bartholomew in the district of Sulz, which traveled to Rome at the turn of the year.

According to the Archdiocese of Cologne, the young pilgrims were accompanied by the president of the children's missionary organization "Die Sternsinger", Prelate Klaus Kramer, as well as the Cologne diocesan president of the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), Father Dirk Bingener.

BDKJ and the Kindermissionswerk in Aachen are also initiators of the Epiphany campaign around the 6th day of the month. January, the Feast of the Magi. It is considered the world's largest action by children for children. In the process, around 500 people die each year in Germany.000 children dressed as holy three kings in parishes from house to house.

They paint with chalk the blessing "Christus mansionem benedicat" (Christ bless this house) on the doors and at the same time collect donations for peers in developing countries. The action takes place in 2013 for the 55. Times instead of.

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