Pope Leo of the Vatican on Sunday urged the Catholic Church to acknowledge its mistakes and heal the “deep wounds” inflicted within its ranks, hours before he was scheduled to meet with victims of sexual abuse committed by priests against children in France.
Addressing the crowds that filled a large area near a famous Catholic shrine in Lourdes, the Pope said that the Church must have the courage to confront its past, but he did not directly refer to the sexual assault scandals in France that shocked the country.
He continued, telling the crowd, whose number was estimated at about 150,000: “In order to heal the deep wounds and painful errors that occurred within (the Church), we must humbly place ourselves under the purifying gaze of the Lord.”
Liu is on a visit to France, during which he will stop in three cities over four days. During the visit, Liu called on countries around the world to reconsider the development of artificial intelligence. About 800,000 people participated in a mass held on the Champs-Elysees Street in Paris yesterday.
Local church leaders hope the Pope's visit to France will help repair the church's standing after a 2021 report concluded that about 330,000 French children had been subjected to sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy and church members over seven decades.
During a closed meeting with French bishops earlier today, the Vatican said that the Pope directly referred to “the scourge of painful attacks committed by clergy against minors.”
The Pope thanked the bishops for the “courageous measures” he said they had taken to confront the scandals, and urged them to strengthen child protection efforts “and to continue on the path they have started, while maintaining the utmost vigilance.”
The Pope had previously apologized for the abuse scandals that damaged the Church's credibility around the world. During a visit to Spain in June, he told bishops there that they must listen to survivors of abuse and provide reparations.
The Pope is scheduled to hold a closed meeting with seven French victims of sexual assault later today. Some victims expressed doubts that this meeting would result in quick changes from the church.
“I am quite skeptical that the Pope will solve this problem, at least not in the near future,” Michele Le Rheon-Genet, co-president of an association for survivors of attacks in western France, told Reuters. She added: “Things are moving very slowly... It will not happen overnight.”
Bishop Pierre-Antoine Bouzoux, spokesman for the French bishops, said that the Pope’s desire to hold the meeting “shows that we cannot ignore this issue, and that it must always remain among our concerns.”
On Sunday, local media in Ukraine quoted Kyiv Star, the country's largest mobile phone service provider, as saying that Russia had bombed its headquarters at a time when Moscow continued to bomb data centers and communications infrastructure.
Kyiv Star reported to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that its headquarters in Kiev was attacked, but no casualties were reported. Today, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it targeted a data center belonging to Vodafone Ukraine, the second largest mobile phone network provider in the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia bombed a data center in Kiev twice this morning, wounding two children and an adult. Moscow also targeted data centers belonging to Ukrainian entities that provide Internet service during the past week, causing a service outage for about 100,000 families in Kiev and the surrounding area, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Affairs.
“Russia has targeted key Ukrainian data centers, seeking to disrupt the flow of information,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sepha wrote on Wednesday. “Rapid alerts about missile and drone threats are essential, they save lives.”
Today, Sunday, as expected, the Swiss rejected a popular initiative aimed at tightening their country's neutrality, and which has the support of the nationalist right, while its opponents described it as pro-Russian, according to preliminary estimates after the closing of the polls.
The text was rejected by a wide majority of 71 percent, according to preliminary estimates published by the GSF Institute. Bern” for opinion polls, shortly after the closing of the last polling stations. In a statement to the official RTS channel, Socialist MP Laurence Villmann Riel said that this shows that “the Swiss are still adhering to the policy of neutrality, which allows Switzerland to impose sanctions and take a position on the international scene.”
Since 1848, the Federal Constitution stipulates Switzerland’s neutrality, which has been rooted in its history for centuries. However, Switzerland's implementation of the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Moscow after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as its assumption of a non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council for the first time between 2023 and 2024, have sparked controversy regarding the issue of its neutrality.
The party's vice president, Member of Parliament, Celine Amoudroz, said in a statement to public television that "Switzerland has an essential role to play on this planet." She added, “It is the white spot that we want to be, it is neutrality.” What we want is peace, diplomacy and dialogue. In order for us to do this, we must enjoy credibility through constant neutrality.”
According to preliminary expectations, 72 percent of the Swiss rejected another initiative aimed at enhancing Switzerland's food production in an effort to reduce its dependence on abroad.
