Vatican City, Feb 8, 2010 / 09:01 am
The Holy Father met with members of the Pontifical Council for the Family on Monday to mark the start of their 19th Plenary Assembly. In his address, he stressed the importance of providing for the rights of children, including an intact family with a mother and father.
To begin the Plenary Assembly, which follows the theme of "The Rights of Infancy" this year, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the role of the Church in the protection of children, saying that "through the centuries, by the example of Christ, (it) has promoted the protection of the dignity and rights of minors and, in many ways, has taken care of them."
"Unfortunately," he lamented, "in different cases, some of its members, acting in contrast with this commitment, have violated these rights: a behavior that the Church doesn't and will never stop deploring and condemning."
One upcoming example of this commitment will be when the Pope meets with the bishops of Ireland next week to address the sexual and physical abuse recently brought to light by the Ryan Report. The Pope had previously his declared "outrage" and "anguish" upon learning the details of the transgressions and has since accepted the resignation of one of the four bishops who was included in the report for having ignored abuse.