The President of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) confirmed that the issue of sexual abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church will be the focus of the visit of Portuguese bishops to the Vatican, which began this Monday.
José Ornelas, in a message released by the Vatican’s CEP, said the issue of abuses was an “important topic” that would be discussed in meetings between Portuguese prelates and various dicasteries. [espécie de ministérios] Holy See, being a “painful problem”.
“This is a painful issue, but it is part of our life. And it does not just make us cry or lament, be sure to ask for forgiveness, but, above all, create a better future,” said José Ornelas, recalling that the VITA Group is completing a year of work and “will have the opportunity to reveal the path” that goes “to justice and dignity of every human person and especially the most vulnerable, children, people with special weaknesses and who cannot be subjected to violence, but must first be the object of special care so that they can recover.”
The CEP president said the Portuguese bishops’ visit to the Vatican, which will culminate in an audience with Pope Francis on Friday, will also serve to “listen and share the synodal experience” of the Catholic Church in Portugal. , and also thank the pontiff for his visit in August 2023 during World Youth Day in Lisbon.
“We are also here to think about the Church of tomorrow, and there is nothing better than this meeting with Pope Francis, who always reminds us of who we are as a Church,” the Bishop of Leiria Fatima said in his message, adding. that the goal of the Portuguese bishops is to build “a healthier, more cohesive, more missional church that addresses the world’s major issues to (…) help create a better world for all.”
The visit “ad Limina Apostolorum” occurs every five years – it was supposed to take place in 2020, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and, in addition to the meetings between the prelates and the various dicasteries of the Holy See, they Meeting We also agree with the Pope on that the Code of Canon Law establishes that “the diocesan bishop is obliged every five years to submit to the Supreme Pontiff a report on the situation of the diocese entrusted to him.”
In this report, according to the CEP, bishops report on their administration to the Pope and the Holy See.
The program began this morning with a meeting with the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, whose second assembly will take place in the Vatican in October.
Meetings will also take place today in the Dicastery of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and in the 1st Section of the Dicastery of Evangelization.
Until Friday, in addition to meetings at various dicasteries, visits to the tombs of the apostles and a meeting with the Pope, a dinner is also planned at the Portuguese Embassy next to the Holy See.
The team for this visit consists of 29 CEP members: 20 diocesan bishops, five auxiliary bishops, the bishop-elect (Beja), two bishops emeritus (Cardinals António Marto and Manuel Clemente) and a priest (secretary and representative of the CEP). KEP).