Rome, Italy, Mar 31, 2019 / 14:58 pm
Returning to Italy from Morocco Sunday night, Pope Francis said the problem of child sexual abuse, in all its forms, cannot be tackled without understanding the influence of evil.
"The global scourge [of sexual abuse of minors] is great, but to say that this is not understood without the spirit of evil," he said March 31. "It is a concrete problem. We must solve it concretely, but say that it is the spirit of evil."
Speaking aboard the papal plane from Rabat after a two-day visit, the pope said there is a risk of Catholics becoming Donatists and "forgetting the spiritual dimension." Donatism is a heresy which holds that the validity of the sacraments depends on the perfection of the priests administering them.
To defeat the spirit of evil requires fighting against it, he said. "We too must struggle with the devil, as we must struggle with human things."