Pope on bombardment of Lebanon: Every disproportionate defense is immoral

By Vatican News

Pope Francis spoke to journalists covering his apostolic trip to Luxembourg and Belgium on Sunday during his usual news conference aboard the flight.

Here is a transcript and English translation of the press conference:

Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office: Good evening everyone. Thank you, Holy Father, for the time you devote to us at the end of this brief but very intense journey. Perhaps you would like to say a word before moving on to questions from the journalists.

Pope Francis: Good morning. I am available for questions.

Michael Merten (Luxembourg must)

Holy Father, Luxembourg was the first country and many people remember your visit to the café. I would like to ask you what are your impressions of Luxembourg and if anything surprised you.

(Pope Francis:) Thanks, my visit to the cafe was just nonsense. Next time I’ll go to a pizzeria. Luxembourg really impressed me as a balanced society, with well-thought-out laws and a different culture. This impressed me a lot, because I didn’t know him.

Belgium, on the other hand, I knew better, because I had been there several times. But Luxembourg was a surprise with its balance and hospitality; This is something that surprised me. I think that the message that Luxembourg can offer to Europe is precisely this.

Valérie Dupont (French-speaking Belgian national television)

Holy Father, thank you for your availability. Please excuse my voice, but the rain hit me a bit. Your words on the tomb of King Baudouin aroused a certain astonishment in Belgium…

But you know that astonishment is the beginning of philosophy, and that’s okay.

Valerie Dupont

Maybe. Some also see it as political interference in Belgian democratic life. The process of beatification of the king is linked to his functions. And how can we reconcile the right to life and the defense of life with the right of women to live without suffering?

It’s about all lives, you know. The king was courageous because, faced with a law of death, he did not sign it and resigned. It takes courage, doesn’t it? It takes a “real” politician to do that. It takes courage. Even he gave a message with that, and he did it because he was a saint. He is holy and the beatification process will continue, because he gave me proof of it.

Women. Women have the right to life: to their own life and that of their children. Let’s not forget to say it: abortion is murder. Science tells you that less than a month after conception, all the organs are already there. A human being is killed. And the doctors who engage in this are – allow me the word – hitmen. They are hitmen. This cannot be disputed. A human life is killed. And women have the right to protect life.

Another question concerns contraceptive methods; that’s another matter. Don’t confuse them. I am now only talking about abortion. And that cannot be disputed. Forgive me, but it’s the truth.

Andrea Vreede (Flemish and Dutch Belgian Television)

Holy Father, also during this visit to Belgium, you had a long meeting with a group of victims of sexual abuse. Often in their stories there are cries of despair about the lack of transparency of procedures, the closed doors, the silence towards them, the slowness of disciplinary measures, the cover-ups that you spoke about today and the problems of compensation for damage suffered. Ultimately, things only seem to change when they get to talk to you, in person. In Brussels, the victims also made a series of demands. How do you plan to proceed with these requests? And would it not be better, perhaps, to create a dedicated department at the Vatican, perhaps an independent entity, as some bishops are asking, to better fight this scourge in the Church and regain the trust of the faithful?

THANKS. On the last point… There is a department in the Vatican, yes. There is a structure; currently the president is a Colombian bishop for abuse cases. There is a Commission, and it was created by Cardinal O’Malley. That works! All questions are received at the Vatican and discussed. Even in the Vatican, I have received people who have been mistreated and I offer them the strength to move forward. This is the first point.

Second, I listened to people who were abused. I believe it is a duty. Some say: statistics show that 40 to 42 to 46% of abused people are found in the family and in the neighborhood; only 3% in the Church. That doesn’t interest me; I’ll take those from the Church!

We have a responsibility to help and care for people who have been abused. Some need psychological treatment; we need to help them with this. We also talk about compensation because it is civil law. In civil law, I believe it is 50,000 euros in Belgium; it’s too low. This is not something that is necessary. I think that’s the amount, but I’m not sure.

But we must care for the people who have been abused and punish the abusers, because abuse is not a sin of today that may not exist tomorrow. It’s a trend; it is a psychiatric illness, and for this reason, they must be offered care and monitored.

You cannot leave an abuser free to live a normal life, with responsibilities in parishes and schools. Some bishops gave work to priests who did this, after trial and conviction, for example in the library, but without contact with children in schools and parishes.

But we must move forward in this direction. I told the Belgian bishops not to be afraid and to move forward, to move forward. Shame is hiding; it’s really a shame.

Courtney Walsh (American television)

Thank you very much for your time. We read this morning that 900 kg bombs were used in the targeted assassination of Nasrallah. There are more than a thousand displaced people and many deaths. Do you think Israel may have gone too far with Lebanon and Gaza? And how to solve this problem? Is there a message for these people?

Every day I call the Gaza parish. More than 600 people are there, inside the parish and the college, and they tell me what is happening, including the cruelties that occur there. What you are telling me, I don’t really understand how things happened (are evolving, editor’s note), but the defense must always be proportionate to the attack.

When there is something disproportionate, a domineering tendency that goes beyond morality is evident. A country that, with its forces, does these things – I am talking about any country – that does these things in such a “superlative” way, these are immoral actions.

Even in times of war, morality must be protected. War is immoral, but the rules of war indicate a certain morality. But when this is not respected, we can see – as they say in Argentina – the “coolness” of these things.

Annachiara Valle (Famiglia Cristiana)

Thank you, Holy Father. Yesterday, after the meeting at the Catholic University of Louvain, a press release was published in which I read: “The University deplores the conservative positions expressed by Pope Francis on the role of women in society.” They say that it is a bit restrictive to talk about women only in terms of motherhood, fertility and caregiving, and that it is indeed somewhat discriminatory, because it is a role that also belongs to men. And in this regard, both universities raised the question of ordained ministries in the Church.

First of all, this statement was released as I spoke. It was pre-written, and it’s not moral.

Concerning women, I always talk about the dignity of women, and in this context I said something that I cannot say of men: the Church is woman; she is the wife of Jesus. Masculinizing the Church, masculinizing women is not human; it’s not Christian. The feminine has its own strength. In fact, women – I always say it – are more important than men because the Church is feminine; the Church is the bride of Jesus. If that sounds conservative to these ladies, then I’m Carlo Gardell (a famous Argentinian tango singer, editor’s note). It’s not understandable… I see that there is a dull mind that doesn’t want to hear about that.

Woman is equal to man. Indeed, in the life of the Church, woman is superior because the Church is feminine. Concerning the ministry, the mysticism of the woman is greater than the ministry. There is a great theologian who has studied this, wondering which is greater: the Petrine ministry or the Marian ministry. The Marian ministry is greater, because it is a ministry of unity that involves others; the other is a management ministry.

The maternal nature of the Church is the maternal nature of a woman. The ministry is a much lesser ministry, intended to accompany the faithful, always in a maternal nature. Various theologians have studied this and say it is a real thing; I don’t say modern, but real; it is not outdated.

Exaggerated feminism, which means women are chauvinistic, doesn’t work. One thing is masculinism that is not acceptable; another is a feminism that is wrong. What works is for the female Church to be larger than the priestly ministry. And this is not often taken into account.

But thanks for the question. And thank you all for this journey and for the work you have done. I’m sorry that time is short here. But thank you, thank you very much. I pray for you; you pray for me. Pray for me!

(The Pope recalls the tragedy of the fifty people missing at sea off the Canary Islands.)

It saddens me a lot to hear about all these people missing in the Canaries. Today, many migrants in search of freedom get lost at sea or near the sea. We can think of Crotone, right? 100 meters… from your land (speaking to a journalist, editor’s note). Let’s think about it. It’s something to cry about, to cry about.

This is a working translation and transcription. Words and expressions in parentheses are provided for clarity.