20190123T1059-23734-CNS-POPE-PANAMA-JAPAN.jpg Alessandro Gisotti, interim director of the Vatican press office, looks on as Pope Francis speaks to journalists Jan. 23, 2019, aboard his flight from Rome to Panama for World Youth Day. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM PANAMA — Pope Francis sought Jan. 27 to downplay expectations for his anticipated February summit on clergy sexual abuse, saying he hopes the encounter helps Catholic bishops "take consciousness" of the issue, but problems of abuse will continue in the church as in other institutions. In a press conference aboard the papal flight back to Rome after a five-day visit to Panama, the pontiff said he thought expectations for his Feb. 21-24 meeting of global bishop presidents had become "inflated." "The expectations need to be deflated," said Francis, adding: "The problems of abuse will continue. It is a human problem, everywhere."

Francis spoke about the upcoming abuse summit in a 47-minute press conference in which he also expressed openness to allowing older married men to be ordained to the priesthood where there is a "pastoral necessity." On the February summit, the pontiff was asked what hopes he had that the encounter would help to restore lay people's trust in bishops following recent revelations that some prelates had covered up abuse or conducted themselves inappropriately with minors. The pope said the summit, first announced in September, had been proposed by his advisory Council of Cardinals. "We noted that some bishops did not understand well, or did not know what to do [about abuse]," said Francis. "We felt the need to give a 'catechesis' on this problem to the bishops' conferences." The pope said the summit has two primary objectives: to "take consciousness" of the seriousness of abuse, and to outline procedures bishops should be following to protect children. "Sometimes, the bishop does not know what to do," Francis said of the second objective, describing the goal as describing "what the bishop must do, what the archbishop who is a metropolitan must do, what the president of the bishops' conference must do — that it may be clear." "That the protocols may be clear," he reiterated. "This is the principle."

Advertisement Advertisement