Vatican City, Oct 3, 2017 / 03:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In the keynote speech at a conference on protecting children in the digital world, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said child safety is one of the most urgent issues of modern times, and stressed that children on the global “peripheries” shouldn’t be forgotten.
In his Oct. 3 speech, Parolin noted that technological and cultural change “is particularly fast in many countries in which social and economic progress are still very limited and unbalanced.”
Thousands of children are now growing up in the digital world in vastly underdeveloped nations, he said, which means their parents and educators “will no longer be culturally equipped to accompany them and help them grow in this world, while their governments often don’t know where to begin in protecting them.”
“We are also responsible for these children, and the businesses that promote and push the development of the digital world are also responsible for them,” he said.
Given the international and interdisciplinary approach of the conference, Parolin stressed that the participants themselves “must take responsibility for those peripheries of the world of which Pope Francis continually speaks.”
The peripheries, he said, are in geographical areas of great economic poverty, but which “are also found within rich societies, where there is considerable human and spiritual poverty, loneliness and a loss of the meaning of life.”
“It is no coincidence that it is precisely minors from these peripheries that are the preferred object of global networks of exploitation and organized violence online.”
He pointed specifically to several crimes against children: trafficking, forced conscription of child soldiers, slave labor, prostitution, drugs, all of which are compounded by inadequate education, hunger and poverty.
In each of these cases, “the horrible reality of sexual abuse is practically always present, as a common aspect and consequence of a multifaceted and widespread violence,” he said, noting that sexual abuse entirely disregards “respect not only for the body, but even more so for the soul, for the profound vulnerability and dignity of every child,” regardless of nationality.
Quoting Pope Francis, Parolin said “we need the courage” to guard children from “the new Herods of our time, who devour the innocence of our children” through various forms of slavery and exploitation.
Parolin spoke on the opening night of a four-day conference on protecting children in a digitally connected and global society. Titled “Child Dignity in the Digital World,” the conference is being held in Rome Oct. 3-6 and is organized by the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Center for Child Protection (CCP).
Participants in the congress include social scientists, civic leaders, and religious representatives from around the world. Topics include prevention of abuse, pornography, the responsibility of internet providers and the media, and ethical governance.
Notable presenters representing the global “peripheries” will be Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi in Kenya, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila in the Philippines, who will address the issue of protecting minors from the perspectives of Africa and Asia respectively.
Parolin’s focus on social peripheries echo remarks from Fr. Hans Zollner SJ, president of the CCP and a member of Pope Francis’ commission for protecting minors.
In a briefing with journalists Oct. 2, the day before the conference began, Zollner said the issues of child abuse and protection, widely spoken about in Western nations, are also of major concern for developing nations.
He said the problem “is everywhere and the risks are everywhere,” he said. “It is not a Western problem, although in many parts of the world, 75% of countries in this world, issues of child sexual abuse have not reached the level of discussion in Anglo and Western- European countries.”
On the opening night of the conference, the panel of speakers was preceded by a powerful video in which minors who have been abused either online or in person shared their stories, detailing instances of online bullying, body-shaming, sexual exploitation and pornography addiction.
The stories depicted included a 17-year-old girl who committed suicide after explicit videos of her, taken by a boyfriend, were posted online. Other stories were that of a young Filipino boy who fell victim to a sex-trafficking ring, and that of a 10-year-old boy who, despite feeling shame, became addicted to pornography.
In his opening remarks, Zollner said that “stories such as these are why were are gathered here.”
“We have listened to stories of victims, and now we are here to talk about hope,” he said, explaining that he has “conflicting emotions” about the conference. While he has a “somber feeling” due to the topic of discussion, the priest said he also has a “hopeful feeling” when he looks at the faces present in the audience and the various areas they represent.
Referring to the stories shared in the video, Zollner asked “how can we stop these terror attacks on the heart of the child?”
One thing is certain in the process, he said, which is that “there is not one single medicine that will fix it all.” Rather, “it is a combination of threads that weave this safety net,” and the threads are people.
According to statistics given by the panel of speakers, in Europe alone there are currently some 30,000 websites that portray children being sexually abused.
Several experts reported that in 2013 alone, 18 million children were sexually abused, amounting to roughly 30 percent of Europe’s children. Numbers given by Interpol for 2016 show that at least 5 children fall victim to sexual abuse online per day.
In his speech, Parolin also emphasized the need to form networks, reiterating concern that the sexual abuse of minors is “an immensely vast and widespread phenomenon.”
Over the past few decades, the reality of child sexual abuse within the Church has become more apparent, as “very serious facts have emerged,” he said. Parolin explained that as facts emerged, the Church became aware of the damage done to victims, and the need to provide “a new culture of child protection” which “effectively guarantees their growth in safe and secure environments.”
“This is a commitment that requires deep human attention, competence and consistency,” he said, adding that the efforts made must continue to “expand and deepen” with clarity and firm commitment.
Attention is necessary, he said, “so that the dignity and rights of minors are protected and defended with much more attention and effectiveness that has been done in the past.”
He noted that “the scourge of offenses against the dignity of minors” now “spreads and aligns itself within the new parameters of the digital world.”
“This plague meanders and infiltrates along a labyrinth of paths and through deep, hidden layers of reality,” he said, stressing that the digital world is not “a separate part of the world,” but an integral part “of a unique reality of the world.”
With old challenges manifesting themselves in new ways, the culture of protecting minors “must be sufficiently able to address today’s problems.”
New energies must be channeled toward a shared commitment “to overcome the sense of disorientation and powerlessness when faced with such a markedly difficult challenge, and to help us to intervene creatively,” he said.
Furthermore, “we must work to regain control of the development of the digital world, so that it may be at the service of the dignity of minors, and thus of the whole human race of tomorrow,” he said. “For the minors of today are the entirety of tomorrow’s human race.”
While research and understanding problems are important, Parolin called for a “far-seeing, courageous endeavor” on the part of all participants, and appealed for “the cooperation of every person in a position of responsibility” in all countries and sectors of society.
Parolin said that in this regard, special attention ought to be paid to the “moral and religious” aspects of the life and development of the human person.
“The minors of whom we speak and whose dignity we wish to defend and promote are human
persons, and the value of each of them is unique and unrepeatable,” he said, adding that each of them “must be taken seriously and protected in this ever more digitalized world, so that they may be able to fulfill the purpose of their life, their destiny, their coming into the world.”
Scripture itself says we are created in the “image and likeness” of God, he said, and in the New Testament it tells of how the Son of God came to the world as “a vulnerable child, and in needy circumstances, assuming both the fragility and the hope for a future that are intrinsic to an infant.”
“To disparage infancy and to abuse children is for the Christian, therefore, not only a crime, but also – as Pope Francis has stated – sacrilege, a profanation of that which is sacred, of the presence of God in every human being.”
While the driving forces behind global technical and economic development might seem “unstoppable” and are likely driven by both economic and political interests, Parolin stressed that “we must not allow ourselves to be dominated by” these interests.
“The power of sexual desire that dwells in the depth of the human mind and heart is great and wonderful when it advances the path of humanity,” he said, but can also be “corrupted and perverted,” becoming “a source of suffering and unspeakable abuse.”
Sexual desire must be “elevated and directed,” he said, adding that “the sense of moral responsibility in the sight of humanity and in the sight of God, the reflection on the correct use of freedom in the building and orientation of a new world and in learning how to live in it, are thus absolutely necessary and fundamental for our common future.”
He closed his speech calling the defense of children in the digital world “one of today’s most important and urgent issues” for humanity.”
Parolin voiced his hope that with the “living sense of the beauty and the mystery of human persons, of the greatness of their vocation to life, and thus of the duty to protect them in their dignity and their growth” in mind, this perspective would “inspire your work and bear concrete and effective fruit.”
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That was a moving moment. What I fear is that we have not “moved” beyond it. We will sentimentally remember the Pope in that picture (and maybe defer from being critical because he’s sick) but this trip down memory lane has to be joined to the purification of memory. And THAT involves an honest, public, and broadly participatory (even more than “synodal”) input that asks and assesses the performance of the “field hospital” (that fled the battlefield for at least a half a year in most places), whether the protocols followed were good, and what we will do the next time something like this threatens. THAT kind of discussion doesn’t seem to be forthcoming (COVID isn’t even mentioned in the Synodal Final Document, a risible omission considering it closed the ecclesial communion, participation, and mission for months if not a year). If it isn’t, these pictures are nice but they’re kind of like Facebook: “We thought we’d share a memory with you….”
Unfortunately, when it came to Covid, many at the highest levels of Church leadership appeared to have no more faith than anyone else– and today’s bishops should be leading the call for accountability for the sins of 2020-2023, except that many of them are among the guilty. We need to make sure that the abuses of power in secular government and the cowardice of Church leaders is not repeated.
I posted this over at NC Register. (Rather obviously, I did not defer because the Pope is not doing well physically. Five years later, I’m still salty about this.)
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“Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
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Seriously? It wasn’t the laity that closed the parishes, withheld the Eucharist, refused to celebrate weddings, denied Last Rites, demanded everyone be vaccinated with an experimental vaccine. Not that a lot of folks would not have come to Mass if parishes had not been closed–many would have stayed home, but many would have gone. Many would have joined together to pray the rosary in front of a Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament if that had been an option.
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But it wasn’t. This is on the Hierarchy, and to the best of my knowledge, there has been no acknowledgement or apology.
Well said, MrsHess.
The photo at the top says more than a thousand words. What the solitary man said may have been recorded but no one was present to listen. And now, who cares?
I don’t claim to be good at math, but if y’all will check my figures, I’d appreciate that. The Church in Africa grew by 9 million members from 2022 to 2023, while the rest of the world added only another 7 million?? Can we conclude that the historical home of Christendom continue to shed Christians while the number of Catholics grows and apparently thrives in traditional missionary land.
It’s known. Confidence, faith, and fearless minds add life to our life span.
🕊️ Thoughtful reflections here—COVID challenged the Church deeply, not just spiritually but institutionally. 😔🙏 A sincere, open reckoning is needed to heal, learn, and ensure we never close the doors on the faithful again. ⛪💔 #FaithAndAccountability #ChurchAfterCovid
⛪🌧️ That unforgettable moment in the rain still speaks volumes today — faith over fear. Thank you, Pope Francis, for reminding us to trust in God’s presence through every storm. 🙏🌍 #StatioOrbis #DoNotBeAfraid
“Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
Sad the man who participated in locking down of parishes and preventing the Mass. And participated in mandatory masks, forced vaccination schemes and vaccine pass ports.