By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Stand up and protect children from exploitation, slaughter and abuse, which includes committing to a policy of “zero tolerance” of sexual abuse by clergy, Pope Francis told the world’s bishops.
Wake up to what is happening to so many of today’s innocents and be moved by their plight and the cries of their mothers to do everything to protect life, helping it “be born and grow,” he said in a letter sent to bishops commemorating the feast of the Holy Innocents, Dec. 28. The Vatican press office published the letter and translations from the original Italian Jan. 2.
Just as King Herod’s men slaughtered young children of Bethlehem in his “unbridled thirst for power,” there are plenty of new Herods today – gang members, criminal networks and “merchants of death” – “who devour the innocence of our children” through slave labor, prostitution and exploitation, he said. Wars and forced immigration also strip children of their innocence, joy and dignity, he added.
The prophet Jeremiah was aware of this “sobbing and loud lamentation” and knew that Rachel was “weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled since they were no more.”
“Today too, we hear this heart-rending cry of pain, which we neither desire nor are able to ignore or to silence,” Pope Francis said.
“Christmas is also accompanied, whether we like it or not, by tears,” and the Gospel writers “did not disguise reality to make it more credible or attractive.”
Christmas and the birth of the son of God aren’t about escaping reality, but are a way to help “contemplate this cry of pain, to open our eyes and ears to what is going on around us, and to let our hearts be attentive and open to the pain of our neighbors, especially where children are involved. It also means realizing that that sad chapter in history is still being written today.”
Given such challenges, Pope Francis told the world’s bishops to look to St. Joseph as a role model.
This obedient and loyal man was capable of recognizing and listening to God’s voice, which meant St. Joseph could let himself be guided by his will and be moved by “what was going on around him and was able to interpret these events realistically.”
“The same thing is asked of us pastors today: to be men attentive, and not deaf, to the voice of God, and hence more sensitive to what is happening all around us,” he said.
Like St. Joseph, “we are asked not to let ourselves be robbed of joy. We are asked to protect this joy from the Herods of our own time. Like Joseph, we need the courage to respond to this reality, to arise and take it firmly in hand.”
The church weeps not only for children suffering the pain of poverty, malnutrition, lack of education, forced displacement, slavery and sexual exploitation, the pope said, she weeps “because she recognizes the sins of some of her members: the sufferings, the experiences and the pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests.”
“It is a sin that shames us,” he said, that people who were responsible for caring for children, “destroyed their dignity.”
Deploring “the sin of what happened, the sin of failing to help, the sin of covering up and denial, the sin of the abuse of power,” the church also begs for forgiveness, he said.
“Today, as we commemorate the feast of the Holy Innocents, I would like us to renew our complete commitment to ensuring that these atrocities will no longer take place in our midst. Let us find the courage needed to take all necessary measures and to protect in every way the lives of our children, so that such crimes may never be repeated. In this area, let us adhere, clearly and faithfully, to ‘zero tolerance,’” he said.
The pope urged the bishops to remember that Christian joy doesn’t ignore or sugarcoat reality, but “is born from a call” to embrace and protect life, “especially that of the holy innocents.”
He asked they renew their commitment to be shepherds with the courage to acknowledge what so many children are experiencing today and to work to guarantee the kind of conditions needed so their dignity will be respected and defended.

By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Members of the pope’s commission for child protection, including an abuse survivor, have been speaking with new bishops and major Vatican offices as part of a mandate to develop and educate the church about best practices.
Pope Francis also approved the establishment of a day of prayer for survivors of abuse, but decided it will be up to each nation’s bishops’ conference to decide when the memorial should be held, according a press release Sept. 12 from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Members of the pontifical commission have spoken recently with officials at the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, as well as at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, which trains priests for service in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps.
Pontifical commission members, who were in Rome in early September, were also set to address the Congregation for Clergy and to speak at seminars for recently appointed bishops; the training seminars are organized by the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Marie Collins, a commission member and survivor of lerical abuse, was scheduled to be one of a number of commission members to address the Sept. 11-18 session of what is commonly referred to as “new bishops school.”
Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a psychologist and commission member, and Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna of Malta, a longtime abuse investigator, already delivered their talks on abuse by clergy and the importance of protecting minors and vulnerable adults during the early September seminar for bishops newly elected to dioceses in mission lands.
The commission has completed a template meant to help all church entities — from bishops’ conferences to Catholic associations — in formulating guidelines in preventing and responding appropriately to abuse.
Pope Francis was set to receive the template “shortly,” according to the commission press release.
At the request of a clerical abuse survivor from Canada, the commission developed a proposal for a universal Day of Prayer because “prayer is one part of the healing process for survivors and the community of believers” and public gatherings for prayer also help raise awareness about the issue, it said.
Pope Francis received the proposal and has asked “that national bishops’ conferences choose an appropriate day on which to pray for the survivors and victims of sexual abuse as part of a Universal Day of Prayer initiative,” it said.
The reason a universal date was not set is because a number of bishops’ conference around the world already have specific days set aside for penance and prayer for victims and their healing, Father Zollner told Catholic News Service.
For example, the church in Australia adopted the nation’s own Day for Child Protection — Sept. 11 — to mark its Day of Prayer.
The Southern African Bishops’ Conferences will dedicate Dec. 2-4 — days which fall during Advent this year — to penance, fasting and prayer, the press release said.
The commission said it has resources like prayers for Mass, liturgical texts and other materials available on request as part of the Day of Prayer initiative.

By Jane Chambers
SANTIAGO, Chile (CNS) – Outside the cathedral, Ricardo Reyes, dressed in a black tracksuit, waited with nearly 250 other homeless people to pass through white metal barriers for a special dinner to celebrate the Year of Mercy. Inside the nave, 10 tables were covered with red and white tablecloths, waiting for the food and guests.
“I have been homeless for the last three years. My family kicked me out because I have problems with alcohol and drugs. It’s tough living on the streets, because everyone thinks you are worthless and doesn’t care about you. They don’t want to give me work, so it is really hard to get by,” he told Catholic News Service as he waited.
People like Reyes had traveled from all over Santiago, invited by volunteers in different parishes around the city. At 5 p.m. Aug. 19, Santiago Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati greeted the guests and invited them into the cathedral. Many became emotional as they streamed into the church and took in their surroundings: ornate gold leafing; red-veined marble columns and high ceilings with frescoes illustrating biblical stories; freshly polished floors and altar arrangements of yellow lilies and red and white roses.
Some embraced the cardinal, their eyes filled with tears of joy and disbelief to be in such a place.
Reyes walked purposefully up to the front of the nave and made sure he was as close to the cardinal as possible. The heavy wooden pews were soon filled with all of the guests.
Reyes’ friend, Jorge Alfaro, was sitting beside him in a wheelchair, wearing a checked yellow scarf. He has been homeless for five years.
“Being homeless when you are in a wheelchair is very tough, because it makes it more difficult to find food and somewhere to stay, but my friends help me,” he said. While he was explaining what coming to the cathedral meant to him, his sunken face crumpled and he started to cry, saying: “It is a very special moment which touches me deeply. It really means something for me to know that people care about us and want to help us and invite us in. Finally, we feel like we are valued.”
In a little patio at the back of the cathedral, head chef Marcela Valdes had been busy preparing the Aug. 19 feast. Valdes knew that many of her guests would not have eaten all day and would be hungry. For hygiene reasons, the food was prepared off site, and she and other helpers packed dinner into white polystyrene boxes.
The menu included soup, Chile’s famous empanadas, roast chicken, rice and creamed vegetables. It was washed down with a Chilean favorite: endless quantities of red and orange fizzy drinks.
Valdes has spent 25 years working for the Home of Christ, a network of shelters for homeless children established by St. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, a Jesuit, who died in 1952. As well as cooking for the bishops, she cooks for the homeless.
“I really love my work because I know these people have nothing and I find working for them very fulfilling,” she said.
Reyes and Alfaro took two empanadas, saving one for later when they were back on the streets. But, as well as eating delicious food, the evening was about creating bonds and recognizing the work of volunteers in ministering to homeless people.
Cardinal Ezzati recognized their work in front of their peers and the people they help. Each person – volunteer and guest – received a wooden cross. People sang and waved their hands in the air as the atmosphere turned festive.
Cardinal Ezzati told CNS that the Chilean church was responding to Pope Francis’ call for the Year of Mercy.
“These people need to feel valued and loved and not like they are something that society has thrown aside,” he said. “They have much to teach us about the spirit of solidarity and charity, which is what this year is all about.”
The cathedral is in Plaza de Armas, in the heart of Santiago. It’s where Peruvian, Haitian and Colombian immigrants hang out.
Cardinal Ezzati said the homeless “are always welcome to come to the cathedral” and noted that they “often use it as a place to rest and escape the heat in summer or the cold in winter.”
“But for us the refuge they have in their own parishes is also very important; that is where they live and that is where they can create bonds with our volunteers and be helped,” he added.