POPE BENEDICT XVI yesterday called on all Catholics, especially priests, to become “angels” and messengers of the news of resurrection of Christ and of God’s triumph over evil and death.
The pope made his remarks in the context of the Marian Regina Coeli prayer which he recited to the faithful from the balcony of his summer residence of Castelgandolfo, south of Rome.
Hundreds of pilgrims clapped and cheered the pope, with some holding up a banner reading “We Are Right With You”, as he braved the midday rain to say the traditional Easter Regina Coeli prayer. After a particularly busy Easter period, the pope has moved out from the Vatican to the more tranquil surrounds of Castelgandolfo for a period of rest.
During his short address, the pope made no reference to the sex abuse crisis which has rocked the Catholic Church in recent months and which overshadowed many of his traditional Easter celebrations in the Vatican.
Pointing out how Easter Monday is traditionally called the “Monday of the Angel”, the pope said: “Just as Jesus came on Earth to announce God’s love, so too must we all announce the hope of Christ. We are the messengers of his resurrection, of his victory over evil and death . . . Certainly, by nature, we remain men and women, but we have received the mission of angels, messengers of Christ . . . In a very special way, through the Sacrament of Ordination, this is a mission received by priests, the ministers of Christ . . .”
The pope’s respite from the sex abuse crisis could well be short-lived, since it seems destined to become an issue on his forthcoming trip to Malta on April 17th and 18th.
In an interview with Rome daily La Repubblica last weekend, Maltese man Lawrence Grech called on the pontiff to “reflect and ask forgiveness” for a series of clerical sex abuse incidents in Malta. Mr Grech, who claims to have been sexually abused in a church-run Maltese orphanage, says hundreds of sex abuse incidents have gone unreported in Malta in the last decade.
Pointing out that the Appogg agency has investigated 845 cases of physical and sexual abuse of minors in Malta between 2001 and 2009, Mr Grech said: “Given that it was nearly always priests or nuns who committed these abuses, they were never reported.”