"abuse itself causes a deep wound, which may last a lifetime; but often the scandal in the church is that the door was closed and victims were not welcomed or accompanied with a closeness of authentic pastors"
The need for consistories was strongly suggested in the discussions of the cardinals prior to the election of the Pope. An ordinary consistory is when the cardinals meet to elect a pope. An extraordinary consistory is when the college of cardinals are convened for a consultative meeting outside of an election. Pope Leo, who takes synodality seriously, convened such an extraordinary consistory just six months after taking office. The Pope made the above-mentioned reference to sexual abuse in his message to conclude the two-day consistory (Jan. 7-8), which mainly discussed the issues of synodality and mission.
If we take a quick glance at the Church, it might seem that let alone synodality, even empathy not deep enough in certain quarters in its local leadership. Many of them appear to be more of lawyers.
Why do many of them act as lawyers than being compassionate?
Isn’t the fundamental problem a problem of how one looks at the Church? Many seem to view the Church as an institution. There are some who see it as a large organization. (Had written about Jesuit Theologian Averi Dallus' five models of the Church- long time back).
Pope Francis dreamed about the Church as a field hospital. A temporary structure where all the wounded -irrespective of hir origin are brought in and cared for with compassion!
The present Pope, Leo XIV, on the other hand, said (October 26) that we need to build a 'humbler, more welcoming Church that listens, founded not on exercise of power but on love and service.'
How you envision the Church – what your basic sense of the Church is – can almost accurately predict what you will be doing!
