Vatican City, Oct 8, 2017 / 11:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- While the challenge of protecting children online is one faced throughout the world, Church leaders from Asia and Africa said that the developing world faces the compounding problem of poverty.
“Online sexual income is one of the many faces and one of the many consequences of poverty,” Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said in an Oct. 5 keynote speech at a conference on protecting children online.
“Dehumanizing poverty, addressing the problem of dehumanizing poverty in a humanizing way, deserves the attention of all sectors of each country in Asia,” he said, explaining that in some cases, parents from poor families choose to exploit their children online “to earn money,” believing, whether out of ignorance or willful denial, that there is no harm done.
“What a shame, what a scandal, to see the poor dehumanized many times over, now turning to dehumanizing ways to gain a bit of humanity,” he said.
Businesses and industries ought “to be disturbed by economic growth or wealth generation that excludes the greater part of the population of the world,” he said, noting that “while business enterprises increase their profits though online shopping and online transactions, the lives of poor children are destroyed by online exploitation. Can we please think about that?”
Archbishop of Manila in the Philippines, Cardinal Tagle was a keynote speaker during an Oct. 3-6 conference titled “Child Dignity in the Digital World,” focusing on protecting children in an increasingly global and connected world.
The conference is organized by the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Center for Child Protection (CCP) in collaboration with the UK-based global alliance WePROTECT and the organization “Telefono Azzurro,” which is the first Italian helpline for children at risk.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin opened the conference on day one, and other participants include social scientists, civic leaders, and religious representatives. Discussion points include prevention of abuse, pornography, the responsibility of internet providers and the media, and ethical governance.
Beside Cardinal Tagle on the panel Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop Nairobi, Kenya, both of whom spoke on safeguarding minors in the developing world, offering the specific perspectives of Asia and Africa, respectively.
Asia
In his speech, Tagle began by noting that while the conference focuses on the digital world, in Asia child exploitation “does not happen only online,” and pointed to the various forms of exploitation that children, who are “the most vulnerable,” endure due to ethnic and religious conflicts, poverty and migration.
Citing information gathered on the Philippines from the International Justice Mission in Manila, Tagle said “it is wise not to equate online sexual exploitation of children with other forms of trafficking in human persons.”
While the two were at one time included under the same general heading, there was a slow realization that “online sexual exploitation of children deserves its own heading, because it has its unique configuration.”
In the Philippines specifically, he said, the main perpetrators of online child exploitation are sadly the parents, or other adults who know them, such as family members or neighbors.
Generally speaking, Tagle said the main victims of online sexual exploitation in the Philippines are younger than those of human trafficking, ranging in age from 10 months to 15-years old, with more boys being victimized online than in physical human trafficking.
He also pointed to the cooperation of other parties, including Western Union and PayPal, which he said both collect international payments for exploitation.
Complicating the situation, he said, is increasing access to the internet and anonymity of contacts, as well as a basic lack of knowledge about the lasting effects of this type of abuse on the victims.
While some laws do exist regarding such crimes, Cardinal Tagle said that more work must be done in educating the public about these laws and enforcing them, as well as to coordinate efforts of police, local government, families, schools, and faith-based groups.
Offering some points for reflection, Tagle said he believes there is a need in Asia specifically, and likely other regions, for “a serious anthropological, philosophical and, for us, theological study on the humanity of the child.”
He explained that in some cultures, “a child is considered a possession of the adults, therefore an object that can be disposed of by the adults according to their whims and desires.”
“Of course this is camouflaged by some acceptable cultural norms like obedience to elders, elders just exercising their responsibility over the children, the responsibility of children to augment the income of their family,” and so forth, he said, so a “holistic view of the child” is needed.
In comments to CNA after his talk, Tagle said he has a “nagging feeling” that while people throughout the world speak about “the dignity of the child,” many might still have a misunderstood vision of the child that is deeply rooted in cultural practices and norms.
“There might be a conflict between the slogans. I don’t want the dignity of children to be just a slogan,” he said. “So can we unearth, can we be honest, especially in our different cultures and in our different religious traditions: What is a child? … Can we be frank? What is our compelling vision?”
There is no universally accepted standard for what constitutes abuse, he said, so in order to eventually arrive at a consensus, “you have to go through cultures,” which is why an anthropological and philosophical study might be necessary.
There might be some cultures that justify abuse through accepted norms, “so how do you confront that culture?” he asked, adding that beyond legislation, “there is a deeper law that people have been following for centuries which is their culture, so you have to address that.”
In his talk, Tagle further reflected on this point. “We need an auto-critique: how does my culture affect my view of children and my behavior toward them?” he said, noting that in some cultures it is accepted that a young girl may be raped in order to restore honor to her family.
The cardinal said he was “aghast” to hear about this, but “it is embedded in the culture,” and this shows the need for dialogue and self-critique, not only for government officials and academics, but for parents, educators, and families as well.
He also said, based on his personal experience in the Philippines, that there is a need for a “serious study on the relation between the virtual, the digital and the real.”
This, he said, is because “some parents say they allow their children to be used online since ‘it is only virtual.’ There is no ‘real’ contact.” This could easily be an excuse, he said, but noted that it could also come from a genuine lack of knowledge “about what the virtual reality is.”
“So we need to hear the stories of children who have been asked to do sexual acts before cameras for viewing, for them to be able to bring across the reality of what is happening through virtual reality.”
Africa
Offering the perspective on the safeguarding of minors in Africa was Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi, which Pope Francis visited in 2015 as part of his first tour of the African continent.
In his speech, Njue painted a general picture of a continent that in many ways is still digitally illiterate, and where issues related to sex are largely taboo, but which also falls prey to the same sorts of abuses and exploitation experienced in other parts of the world, including online.
“The digital world, being a new phenomenon, has found a gray ground of abuse in Africa, where the majority of older generations expected to protect minors are not computer literate, leaving their children exposed to cyber-abuse of all kinds,” he said.
Naming just a few of the online dangers that have affected African youth, Njue cited cyber-bullying, ‘sexting,’ online grooming and gambling for money, as well as a number of suicides that have taken place as a result of the online “Blue Whale Challenge,” in which youth are encouraged to join the game and carry out a number of different challenges, the final one being suicide.
Njue said that according to statistics from communications representatives in Kenya, mobile access among citizens increased to 88.1 percent in 2016, with 37.8 million subscribers to online mobile services.
Other gains were seen in the general internet data market, which spiked to 31.9 million people going digital. However, “telecommunications offices remain largely unregulated, and children remain vulnerable,” he said.
Generally speaking, Njue said that as far as Africa goes, “safeguarding of minors has been neglected in our society.”
In many ways it is a “culture of silence,” he said, explaining that even for parents to bring up human sexuality with their children “is a taboo subject in most of our communities in Kenya, and Africa at large.”
Needed infrastructure is also lacking in many African countries, he said, explaining that law enforcement officers “are not adequately trained and equipped” to deal with cyber-abuse, while the majority of adults “are not computer literate, and therefore are at a disadvantage in knowing what their children are doing with their computers and mobile phones.”
Some have taken advantage of this lack of awareness to promote inappropriate sexual content even through cartoons, with children watching the shows in front of their parents, who are often unconcerned “out of ignorance.”
Poverty, he said, is also a key cause of exploitation, and children are often left alone, as parents are frequently out of the house all day for work.
“This exposes the vulnerable children to all kinds of abuses with no one to protect them from the perpetrators,” Njue said, adding that political strife on the African continent such as the conflicts in Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic compound the problem, leaving women and children “in danger of all forms of abuse.”
There is also a lack of advocacy and a lack of funds for awareness-raising, he said, because many people are afraid to speak out in a society “which views issues of sexual abuse as taboo, not to be discussed in the open.”
As far as what can be done, Njue echoed Pope Francis’ frequent call for greater training of Church personnel and the enactment of laws “to ensure that these sins have no place in their Church. This is why we are here.”
Laws ought to be more stringent, he said, and the faithful, particularly in schools and educational institutes, must also be educated on the dangers involved in internet activities to so that children do not fall victim to abuse or bullying online.
When in 2011 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith requested that all bishops’ conferences issue guidelines for safeguarding minors, Kenya responded by issuing a document titled “Safeguarding children, policies and procedures,” Njue said.
However, he said that due to “a lack of data and expertise,” the Kenyan bishops’ conference, as well as others in Africa, “are not able to do much in safeguarding children from cyber-bullying. This is where the conference needs help.”
In terms of action points that could be implemented, Njue said governments must set up a “singular body” that monitors the internet, as was done in the UK, and which takes down websites found to publish and disseminate child pornography.
Parents must also be more pro-active in monitoring what their children do online, he said. And laws must be implemented to handle cases where the child is both the “victim and the perpetrator of cyber-crime” by ‘sexting’ lewd images of themselves on apps like WhatsApp or Snapchat, he said, and again pointed to models already existing in the UK.
Elders, chiefs and local administration in various villages also ought to be informed of digital risks, and educational institutions ought to push media channels to ensure that television companies are offering appropriate content at times when families might be watching, he said.
As far as the Church goes, Njue said she must first of all accompany children by giving them a solid education in Christian values, “thus empowering and creating a good foundation of morals in them.”
The Church should also take advantage of the various groups, associations, movements and educational institutions she runs in order to educate children on cyber-bullying and sexual abuse to ensure their protection. Similarly, clergy and religious should also be given adequate information on risks and prevention.
Njue also called for heavy investment for counseling and rescue services for victims, and for greater cooperation with the state and with law enforcement to ensure proper training and that all cases “are followed to the end.”
“The safeguarding of minors is a multi-faceted social problem that requires the synergy of all disciplines to bring about prevention,” Njue said, stressing that regional and international collaboration are necessary throughout Africa “if we are to respond to the challenges of child online abuse in a digitally, culturally diverse world.”
Sexual abuse is a problem “across all borders,” he said. “From the poorest remote village in Africa, Asia and Latin America, to the richest countries in the developed world, there is no exclusion.”
Because of this, “it is our cardinal duty and obligation to see to it that children are protected from all forms of sexual abuses, including cyber-bullying and pornographic movies, and to fully implement the laws and regulations to the letter,” Njue said.
He insisted that the Church, and society as a whole, “should advertise zero-tolerance to any form of abuse of minors,” and voiced his hope that the conference would “be the beginning of a new journey.”
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And every cardinal who values his career more than the faith and the good of the Church is complicit with this catastrophic papacy. These, who donned red to display a willingness to be martyrs for the faith, are nothing more than cowardly careerists and lapdogs. They can’t even stand up to the threat within. Shame on them. As for Bergoglio, he is beyond hope.
I don’t know if Francis is consciously trying to wire the next conclave that elects his successor, but the appointment as Cardinals of such stalwarts as Cupich, Tobin, McElroy, etc. certainly make you wonder.
CWR’s stated policy:
“…comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published.”
You cannot possibly hold us to this impossible standard when the topic we are addressing is the crepuscular, assiduous, blepharitic mess Bergoglio has made of our beloved 2,000-year-old Church in a mere ten years.
It’s positively Jesuitical.
For the love of Christ what successes are you talking about. Success of a pope should be to let the truth of Christ shine forth, to unite the Church and to greatly increase the number of believers because of the mesmerizing proclamation of the love of Christ our Incarnate God Redeemer the Savior of humankind without chipping away at the holy faith deposit that we already treasure in the Church while instead he supports the rebels who defy the truth to replace it with their own will of evil desires. This papacy is a “nightmare”.
Well done.
deeply apologize to CWR and its readers for the language used in my earlier comment.
The people of God should never have to be subjected to a glutenous, tumescent term like, “Jesuitical,” or any of its fatuous derivatives.
The beauty of irony!
Evangelization is his forte. In our time, when it comes to evangelization, Pope Francis is second to none. Cardinals, bishops, priests, religious women, men, and each and every person of goodwill keep wishing the Pontiff good health and long life.
How do you come by your assessment that evangelization is his greatest forte? Evangelization is more than words or good intentions; its success can only be judged by its fruits. Please enlighten us.
Evangelization? Perhaps no pope in history has done more to attempt to drive believing Catholics out of the Church. May God deliver us from this appalling fraud of a papacy!
Why then, I wonder, does Mass attendance continue to decline and vocations to the priesthood and religious life drop as well?
How dreary! While disproportionate kudos are given to Papa, Jesus is left outside the door! Yet, Papa is in need of constant pick-me-ups and your just the man to provide them!
I’m going on memory but was it about a year ago there was an article where the author interviewed about 30 US bishops off the record. One of the questions was “Are you aware of any seminarians who entered the seminary because of being inspired by Pope Francis?” To a man, the answer was “No.”
You are, I think, referring to Francis X. Meier and this piece from two years ago: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2021/02/somebody-needs-to-be-dad
Carl – you da man. Here is the relevant quote: “When pressed, none of the bishops I queried could report a single diocesan seminarian inspired to pursue priestly life by the current pope. None took any pleasure in acknowledging this.”
Yes, it’s a brief but important piece by Fran. And my own experience, talking to a smaller number of bishops, is the same.
Sadly, with many young men – including my own youngest son – the “Francis effect” has been the opposite. They do not even want to think of the priesthood until knowing that Francis is gone, and that his successor is not made in his image.
Through the action (and inaction) of Pope Francis, the true state of our beloved Catholic Church has been revealed. There may be a few more closets or secret dungeons yet to be opened, but it seems to me it’s all out there on full display. Doctors will wait for the full condition of their patient to declare before taking action. There’s a whole lot of declaring going on right now!
All of the priests and bishops who shock and amaze us on an almost daily basis have been priests and bishops for many years, much longer than a decade. And those that the Pope has “elevated” and “honored” are bathed in glaringly bright lights. This wasn’t the case before. Men and women of goodwill will do good no matter where they are placed.
We’re all sitting on the edge of our seats, watching closely, listening attentively. Could this be “The Francis Effect”?
Actions speak louder than words, and his actions give the lie to his words.
“Persons in the prince’s orbit not only subject to his power but dependent upon it are willing to let the prince do what he will, so long as he would not harm them. Pope Francis has taken that to heart” (extract of Altieri).
Prince Francis does what he wants independent of opinion. Intimidation and feeling safe extend beyond his inner circle of glorified rogues to the ordinaries in the field, many of them good men who lost their voice.
What else with the Church as it has become. If anything, I repeat what was apparent from the start of the German Synodale Weg operetta, that the outrages there were the prelude for the great stage opera the Synod on Synodality.
At present there’s widespread confusion in what to believe as a Christian. That will be clarified 2024 to mean that there really are no permanent beliefs to be confused about. All that will be required is merciful tolerance of sin, quickly becoming, by then an irrelevant word, and inclusiveness no longer required to be called radical.
That’s not to say all will go along, there certainly will be resistance. And with that resistance, our loyalty to the eternal Word there certainly will be greater hope for justification before Christ’s judgment. Our compassionate mission, effort for conversion of the misled.
I like to look at the brighter side of things. Upon the Second Coming of Jesus, Jesus will wipe away His Bride, the Catholic Church’s, every tear, and there will be Peace on Earth. Hallelujah! What Jesus tells us to look for, which will indicate His Second Coming, is the Matthew 24:15 “the desolating abomination spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place”. Both Jesus and the Blessed Mother, through locutions to St. Faustina, have confirmed that Jesus is, in fact, now Coming.
To survive ‘The Great Tribulation’ which comes when we see the, Matthew 24:15 “the desolating abomination spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place”, is to flee to Jesus’, recently instituted, year 2000, gifts of Divine Mercy Sunday. “a person on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house, a person in the field must not return to get his cloak”.
Please receive Jesus Gifts of Divine Mercy Sunday, this April 16th, in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus! Jesus will Rule on earth for tens of thousands of years, and those Catholics in a State of Grace, will live in paradise on earth, married to Jesus.
Matthew 24:15 The Great Tribulation
“When you see the desolating abomination spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, a person on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house, a person in the field must not return to get his cloak. Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days. Pray that your flight not be in winter or on the sabbath, for at that time there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be.
Divine Mercy in My Soul, 965
Jesus looked at me and said, Souls perish in spite of My bitter Passion. I am giving them the last hope of salvation; that is, the Feast of My Mercy. If they will not adore My mercy, they will perish for all eternity. Secretary of My mercy, write, tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of justice, is near.
Divine Mercy in My Soul, 699
I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet.
Divine Mercy in My Soul, 635, The Blessed Virgin Mary :
… you have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge. Oh, how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for [granting] mercy. If you keep silent now, you will be answering for a great number of souls on that terrible day.
http://www.apocalypseangel.com/married.html
Ron above – Yes, Francis Maier.
Fr. Fessio of Ignatius Press also said recently, I believe on EWTN, that there are JPII priests and BXVI priests but there are no Francis priests. Doesn’t it say somewhere, “By their fruits you shall know them”?
The image of humility paying for his bill getting on the bus and the only really good thing: the year of mercy! After that the Vatican version of an Eton mess! The put downs, the angry fist waving,the castigating of those who love tradition as mentally deranged and other things! I wonder what is Catholicism any more? Just to have a good holy Pope and give us solid spiritual food rather than the gruel currently on offer!!!!
These past ten years Pope Francis has repeatedly reminded Catholics that the Church’s Pro-Life teaching and active care extends through the whole range of life from womb to tomb as this quotation from his apostolic exhortation, “On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World,” exemplifies: “Our defence of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection. We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty.” (Gaudete et Exsultate 101)
“On the call to holiness”! One sentence for the “defense of the unborn” and back to his principal cardinal message: tend to the poor! THE CALL TO HOLINESS for Bergoglio is to take care of the poor. After he was elected pope he chose the name Francis because Saint “Francis loved the poor”. Wrong, Saint Francis, the Poverello, wanted to be the poorest one because by the love of God he was on fire for Christ called the seraphic saint. Certainly, we have to give alms and fight injustice but as Jesus said to Saint Faustina: “I demand deeds of mercy…for love of Me.” “For it is love that I desire” (Hosea 6:6). “that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them” (Jn 18:26) HE is the King of Glory and the God of love. He made us for his glory and that is what brought forth saints and martyrs. Georgio Bergoglio said when he was young, he wanted to be a politician or a priest. He might have been a great politician.
For a regular Catholic in the pew like me with a little knowledge of theology, the most significant and meaningful act made by Pope Francis was the suppression of the pre-Vatican II Mass. He abrogated Benedict XVI’s decree Summorum Pontificum, which allowed any priest to celebrate the old Mass. Essentially, Francis declared this a failed experiment. Instead of leading to the mutual enrichment of two different forms of the Roman rite, the older form was being abused as a rallying point for opposition to the Second Vatican Council. Francis rescinded Benedict’s permission, reverting to the status quo under Paul VI and John Paul II: each bishop can decide — within the authority granted to them by the Church’s universal norms — to what extent to allow the older form, and even then only in chapels, not parish churches. Francis’s stated goal is to have all Latin Rite Catholics worship together with the reformed Roman Rite called for by Vatican II. While the severity of his decision surprised almost everyone, the Pope feels it is his duty, as Bishop of Rome, to ensure the full implementation of the Second Vatican Council. The Council demanded, for good theological reasons, that the Church’s rituals be reformed.
Sorry, but I can’t see the connection between Sacrosanctum Concilium, VII’s document on the liturgy, and the decision of Francis to revoke his predecessor’s generosity in allowing Mass to be celebrated in the old rite. The decision seems more motivated by the Pope’s personal dislike for the TLM than by any legitimate pastoral consideration.
Dictionary please.
F. Connell
Summorum Pontificum was no experiment. It was a righting of a wrong by eliminating an illegal restriction on the celebrating of the TLM, that illegal construct called an indult. You seem to have unquestionably accepted the argument that just because one attends the TLM that one rejects VII. The two are not necessarily related.
Read the ancient church document Quo Primum. As I have posted here in the past I state again; an enemy of the Mass of the Ages is an agent of Satan. I pray for the conversion of the Pope’s soul.
Joseph Meynier:
I invite you to get a copy of and read the book: “The Pope, The Council, and The Mass” by James Likoudis and Kenneth Whitehead. There is a chapter about “Quo Primum.” You’ll be enlightened about the reformed Mass of Vatican II as indeed containing elements of both continuity and change (reform, or actually more of return to the original and more ancient sources) of the Mass of the Ages: its essence of being the memorial sacrifice of Christ remains and has not changed, while its ceremonial flow and ritual order has been reformed. What is even of happy development for us the laity is the retrieval of the more ancient understanding that got lost in the passage of church history about the “celebrant” of the Mass being the whole gathered assembly participating in the priesthood of Christ with the priest as “presider.” Today we don’t call the priest “celebrant,” for we all who are gathered for Mass are the “celebrant.” I hope you spend time in study and prayer in reading the book.
But once again: Why does any of this preclude the celebration of Mass according to the TLM?
F.Connell, some of us would prefer to have both the Novus Ordo and the traditional Mass. Neither is perfect. Why does Francis need to directly contradict his far more learned, experienced and intelligent predecessor? What could possibly be the problem with having two forms of the Latin Rite Mass for a while?
Is the Novus Ordo so bad that it can’t survive if any competition to it allowed? Is that why only a minority of Catholics attend Mass anymore? I don’t think so but then why is Francis so upset that he wants to suppress the competition? The TLM Mass is always crowded on Sundays and always has families with young children.
Is Francis upset that there are still Catholics that believe that not going to Mass on Sunday is a mortal sin?
As Weigel has said it is hard to understand why Francis would be so upset with the TLM and shows no concern with the enormous drop in attendance at Mass on Sundays.
Please read my first comment above. And if you want to know the Pope’s reasons, please read the actual text of Traditiones Custodes (easily accessible online!), not the commentators.
Your first comment above which has the obvious error where you said that TC reverts to the “status quo”… “where “each bishop can decide”? That status quo no longer exists. Bishops now need temporary permission granted from the Vatican to allow the TLM. Any TLM Mass is not even allowed to be mentioned in the parish bulletin. Was that the policy of John Paul II? I guess you also think that the gutting of the JPII Institute by Francis was also what JPII would have wanted.If you are not even aware of the simple facts how could anyone trust that you have any understanding at all of the new policy on the TLM of Francis?