Pope Calls for End to Child Abuse

(24 Dec 08 - RV) Pope Benedict ushered in the Christmas season with Midnight Mass Wednesday during which he sent out an appeal for the world to wake up to the plight of abused children.

The Christmas Eve mass is one of the most televised events to take place in the Vatican, with over 90 channels beaming the celebration to Africa, Asia and the Americas and hundreds more radio stations tuning into the Holy Father’s words.
 In his homily in Italian shortly before one am local time, Pope Benedict urged people to “see something of the Child of Bethlehem in every child”.

“Every child asks for our love”. He said and so on “this night, let us think especially of those children who are denied the love of their parents. Let us think of those street children who do not have the blessing of a family home, of those children who are brutally exploited as soldiers and made instruments of violence, instead of messengers of reconciliation and peace. Let us think of those children who are victims of the industry of pornography and every other appalling form of abuse, and thus are traumatized in the depths of their soul”.

The Holy Father continued that “The Child of Bethlehem summons us once again to do everything in our power to put an end to the suffering of these children; to do everything possible to make the light of Bethlehem touch the heart of every man and woman”.

Pope Benedict concluded: “Only through the conversion of hearts”, only through a change in the depths of our hearts can the cause of all this evil be overcome, only thus can the power of the evil one be defeated”. “Only if people change will the world change; and in order to change, people need the light that comes from God, the light which so unexpectedly entered into our night”.