“Your service is like ‘oxygen’ for the churches and local religious communities.” This is how Pope Francis describes the work carried out by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which met from March 24 to 28 in plenary assembly. In a message dated March 20 and signed from the Gemelli Polyclinic, the Pope assures that “where there is a child or vulnerable person safe, there Christ is served and honored.”

Abuse prevention is not a blanket to be spread over emergencies but one of the foundations upon which to build communities faithful to the Gospel.

Protection Mechanisms

In the text, Francis emphasizes that the Commission’s work does not consist of implementing protocols, but rather in promoting protection mechanisms, that is, “training that educates, controls that prevent, listening that restores dignity.”

When preventive practices are implemented, even in the most remote communities, they are writing a promise: that every child, every vulnerable person, will find a safe environment within the ecclesial community. This is the driving force behind what should be an integral conversion for us.

Listening with the Ear of the Heart

Francis’s request is clear and is articulated in three points: common work with the decasteres of the Roman Curia; working in synergy with non-ecclesial entities “so that protection may become a universal language,” but above all, offering hospitality and attention to the wounds of the soul in the style of the Good Samaritan.

Listening with the ear of the heart, so that each testimony does not find records to fill out, but hearts of mercy from which to be reborn.

Sentinels of Pain

The Pontiff recalls that the Church’s safety net has grown in ten years, and so he finally invites the members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to be “sentinels who watch while the world sleeps,” who overcome the temptation to file away pain and strive to heal it. Finally, the Pope exhorts us to walk with hope and dedication along the path we have embarked on.