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Within the Church there must be “a greater commitment” to definitively eliminate the “scourge” of abuses: and it must be done “at any cost, moral and of suffering”. Just a few days after the Letter to the People of God, the first moments of the Pope”s voyage in Ireland were marked by a new and severe
denunciation of “repellent crimes” against young people that has stained members of the ecclesiastical community.
During the meeting with the country”s political and civil representatives, which took place on Saturday morning, 25 August, in the Dublin Castle, the Pope again expressed “pain” and “shame” for “the grave scandal” that has shocked the Irish Church. A report
accompanied the admission of the “failure of ecclesiastical authorities–bishops, religious superiors, priests and others–adequately to
address” these cases and the invitation to “remedy past mistakes” adopting “stringent norms meant to ensure that they do not
happen again”.
In this first public appointment of his visit–which included in its most intense moments the prayer vigil Saturday evening and the solemnncelebration of the Eucharist Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the World
Meeting of Families–Pope Francis gave homage to the ancient history of the
faith in Ireland. He reiterated that the family must be promoted and protected
“by every appropriate means”, because the family is “the glue of society” and shows us the way to “live together in harmony” and “reconcile our differences”.
