Rome, Italy, Mar 7, 2019 / 15:01 pm
God is purifying his Church through the painful revelations of the abuse scandals, so do not be discouraged, Pope Francis said Thursday in a meeting with the priests of the Diocese of Rome.
"Sin disfigures us, and we experience with pain the humiliating experience of when we ourselves or one of our brother priests or bishops falls into the bottomless pits of vice, corruption or, worse still, of the crime that destroys the lives of others," he said March 7.
Speaking in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, Francis told the priests of the Rome diocese that he feels with them "the unbearable pain and suffering that the wave of scandals – which the whole world's newspapers are now full of – causes in us and in the whole ecclesial body."
"Still, do not be discouraged! The Lord is purifying his Bride and is converting us all to himself," he continued, stating that this "test" is to help them understand that without God "we are dust."