Pope Francis uses silence while the church is caught up on scandals concerning sexual abuse. He also commented regarding people looking into scandals who, according to him, seeks division and destroys families.
"With people who lack the good will, with people who only look for scandal, who solely seek division, who are just after destruction, even in families: silence and prayers," Francis said during his homily at Domus Sanctae Martae on September 3.
In his recent appearances in public, the pope denounces hypocrites who generate division and anger but he never directly address the scandals surrounding the high-ranking of the Church and even himself.
It can be recalled that the Pennsylvania grand jury report and ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's case increased the Church's disappointing track record on clerical sex abuse. On Sunday, Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano accused Pop Francis of knowing about the misconduct allegations against McCarrick in 2013 yet not acting upon them.
Despite the accusations, Pope Francis remained silent and even said he will not say a single word about the issue which may be connected to his homily.
"May the Lord give us the grace to discern when we should speak and when we should stay silent," Francis said at the end of his homily on Monday. "This applies to every part of life: to work, at home, in society, in all of life. Thus, we will be closer imitators of Jesus," Pope Francis said during one of his homilies.
Moreover, Pope Francis commented on Luke 4: 16-30 says the passage "allows us to understand how the father of lies, the accuser, the devil, works to destroy the unity of a family, of a people."
"But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown. They changed," Francis said, "the seed sowed by the devil began to grow. They got up, cast him away, they entered a pack mentality: they weren't people, they were a pack of wild dogs who cast him out of the city. They did not reason."
