“I always talk about the dignity of women,” he said. “I said something that I cannot say about men: The Church is woman, she is the bride of Jesus. To masculinize women is not human. Women, I always say, are more important than men, because the Church is the bride of Jesus.”
He said if this seems “conservative” to some people, it is because they do not understand, or “there is an obtuse mind that does not want to hear about this.”
Reiterating his many past statements on the Marian and Petrine theological principles defining the different roles of men and women in the Church, Francis also praised “the mysticism of woman [as] greater than” ordained ministries such as priests or deacons.
Abuse
In the press conference, journalist Andrea Vreede of the Dutch NOS TV asked Pope Francis about abuse and how the Vatican might better respond to the needs and requests of victims.
Pope Francis pointed out that an institution already exists within the Vatican on this issue, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, and recalled that he has many times personally received abuse victims, listening to them and wishing them well.
“I give them strength so that they can go forward,” he said. “We have a responsibility to help the abused and to take care of them. … and to punish the abusers.”
“We must take care of people who have been abused and punish the abusers, because abuse is not a sin of today that perhaps tomorrow will not exist,” the pope said. “It’s a trend; it’s a psychiatric illness, and for this reason, we must offer them treatment and monitor them.”
“You cannot leave an abuser free like that in normal life with responsibility in the parishes, in the schools,” he said.
Read Full Article here: catholicnewsagency
