The bishop must be an ‘administrator of God,’ not of goods, of power, “humble, meek, servant, not prince.” Only in this way can we put order in the Church which “ has never been born perfectly in order,” Pope Francis said at Mass this morning at Casa Santa Marta, inspired by the passage from Paul’s letter to Titus.

Fervor and disorder are the two words used by Francis to recount how the Church was born, also remembering the “admirable things” accomplished. “There is always confusion – he said – the power of the Spirit, chaos, yet we must not be afraid,” because in reality “it is a beautiful sign.” Jorge Mario Bergoglio assures us that “the Church was never born all organized, all in place, without problems, without confusion, never. She was always born that way.” And the confusion, “this disorder, must be fixed. It’s true, because things must be put in order; let’s think, for example, of the first Council of Jerusalem: there was the struggle between the Judaizing and the non-Judaizing… Let’s think about it well: they do the Council and fix things.”

For this reason – continued the Pope – Paul left Titus in Crete to put things in order, reminding him that “faith comes first.” At the same time, he provides some criteria and instructions on the figure of the bishop “as administrator of God.” “The definition he gives is “administrator of God,” not of goods, of power, of lobbies, no: of God. He always has to correct himself and ask himself, “Am I an administrator of God or am I a business-man?” The bishop is the administrator of God. So he is called to be ”blameless: this is the same word that God asked Abraham: “Walk in my presence and be blameless.” It is the founding word of a leader.”

As the rich get richer, the increasing misery and cries of the poor are ignored every day, Pope Francis said. Christians cannot stand with arms “folded in indifference” or thrown up in the air in helpless resignation, he said in his homily on Nov. 18, the World Day of the Poor.

“As believers, we must stretch out our hands as Jesus does with us,” freely and lovingly offering help to the poor and all those in need, the Pope said at the Mass in St Peter’s Basilica. About 6,000 poor people attended the Mass as special guests; they were joined by volunteers and others who assist disadvantaged communities.

After the Mass and Angelus, the Pope joined some 1,500 poor people in the Vatican’s audience hall for a multi-course lunch. Many parishes, schools and volunteer groups across Rome also offered a number of services and meals for the poor that day.

God always hears the cries of those in need, the Pope said in his homily at the Mass, but what about us? “Do we have eyes to see, ears to hear, hands outstretched to offer help?”

May people hear the cry of the abandoned elderly, those who lack any support, refugees and “entire peoples deprived even of the great natural resources at their disposal,” he said.

Pope Francis is convinced that the scourge of abuse is a problem that does not pertain just to a single country.

Pope Francis’ crunch summit on child protection in February is poised to open a new chapter in the Church’s response to the clerical sexual abuse scandal, ending what has been a haphazard and inconsistent approach to child protection.

The Vatican on November 23 released details about the unprecedented 21-24 February 2019 global gathering of bishops underlining Francis’ desire for a collective, centralised and coordinated response to preventing abuse in the Church.

The Pope has asked clerical sex abuse victims and his child protection commission to help prepare for the meeting which will be attended by 180 participants, the vast majority of these presidents of bishops conferences from across the world.

On the organising committee, two of the most credible Church anti-abuse experts have been appointed. These include the Archbishop of Malta, Charles Scicluna, a longtime Church prosecutor who is now the Pope’s point man in handling abuse cases, and Fr Hans Zollner, the Jesuit priest who runs the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

“The evening of August 21, 2014 I was relaxing with my two children–Zachariah (5) and Jonathan (18 months), in front of our house in Baga, Borno State. I was pregnant at the time. We suddenly heard gunshots and explosions.

“We all knew immediately that it was Boko Haram, and ran in different directions. They killed people, burned houses and churches. In no time, they surrounded us and kept us hostage for three weeks.

“We were later moved to Chad and eventually, Sambisa, back in Nigeria. They picked wives from among us. Those who refused marriage were killed and their children enslaved.

“I refused to convert to Islam but they still named me Maryam. When I refused, marriage, they picked up Jonathan and flung him into a river. He soon drowned, screaming and crying, ‘mama.’ I helplessly, watched him die.

“I was told I would be married to someone who could impregnate me to replace my dead son. If I didn’t want that, then I would work as a sex slave or they would kill my remaining child. I became a sex slave.

“Daily, for almost two years, I was with more than one man. I was scared of being infected. Many times, I felt like ripping my skin off whenever they called on me. I was flogged, beaten, imprisoned with no food or water.

“I had a miscarriage in the process but got pregnant afterwards and gave birth to a son they named Ibrahim. It was very difficult to love this child. His father is Boko Haram, but he is still my son.

“I worried a lot about my husband. I wondered how I would face him if we eventually reunited. I wondered how I would cope with this current situation which had become a part of life’s story.

“I hadn’t seen or heard any news about him as we had gone in separate directions during the attack.

“One fateful day, soldiers attacked the camp and many of us escaped during the chaos. Another group of soldiers brought us to Maiduguri. As we journeyed, I felt like flinging the baby out of the truck. But it seemed like the soldiers anticipated my thoughts and began counselling me against it.

“While I was struggling with this reality of having a Boko Haram baby, I was also worried about how my husband would accept that I was a sex slave while in captivity and had also come back with a child fathered by one of the insurgents. “They asked me if I had anyone in Maiduguri and I told them I had the Catholic Church. That’s how they brought me to St Patrick’s Cathedral.

Christians continue to be the most persecuted religious group, according to a report by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

Almost 300 million Christians, or one out of seven Christians in the world, live in a country where they face violence, arrest and human rights violations.  Some 61% of the world’s population live in countries where religious freedom is not respected, meaning that six out of every 10 people around the world cannot express their faith with total freedom, Vatican News reported.

These were some of the figures unveiled in the Religious Freedom Report 2018 by ACN, the international pontifical Catholic charity and foundation that helps persecuted Christians worldwide.

The report looks at 196 countries, examining the degree to which the basic right to religious freedom, as defined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is respected with regard to all the major religious faiths.

The report, which contains data from June 2016 to June 2018, shows grave violations of religious freedom in 38 countries. In 17 of them there is serious discrimination on grounds of religious faith, while in 21 there is outright persecution of religious minorities, in some cases to the point of death. The report reveals that in some of the worst countries for religious freedom, the situation has deteriorated over the past two years. On the global level in general, overall respect for religious freedom has also worsened.

The ACN study shows that in 22 countries the reasons for attacks on religious freedom are rooted in radical Islamism, while in other countries the dominant causes are the authoritarianism of states or governments which pursue policies of “aggressive nationalism.” Among these countries are China, India, North Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan.

On a more positive note, the report pointed to an improved level of religious freedom for minorities in Syria and Iraq following the military defeat of terrorist group Islamic State.

The International Union of Superiors General has called on women religious who have suffered abuse to come forward and report it to their congregations and church and state authorities.

“If the UISG receives a report of abuse, we will be a listening presence and help the person to have the courage to bring the complaint to the appropriate organizations,” it added in a statement published on its website on November 23.

The group – whose members are 2,000 superiors general of congregations of women religious across the world, representing more than 500,000 sisters – said it wished to express “deep sorrow and indignation over the pattern of abuse that is prevalent within the church and society today.”

“Abuse in all forms: sexual, verbal, emotional or any inappropriate use of power within a relationship, diminishes the dignity and healthy development of the person who is victimized,” it added.

“We stand by those courageous women and men who have reported abuse to the authorities. We condemn those who support the culture of silence and secrecy, often under the guise of ‘protection’ of an institution’s reputation or naming it ‘part of one’s culture.'”

“We advocate for transparent civil and criminal reporting of abuse whether within religious congregations, at the parish or diocesan levels, or in any public arena,” it said.

In a video message to young men and women around the world, Pope Francis has called on them to provoke an uprising of change by serving others.

In helping those who are suffering, both young believers and non-believers can find “a strength that can change the world,” the Pope said in a video message to youths for the up-coming World Youth Day in Panama. “It is a revolution that can overturn the powerful forces at work in our world. It is the ‘revolution’ of service,” he said in the message released by the Vatican.

The theme for the World Youth Day celebrations, which will take place on January 22-27, is taken from the Gospel of St Luke, “May it be done to me according to your word.”

In his message, the Pope said those words uttered by Mary during the Annunciation are “the positive reply of one who under-stands the secret of vocation: to go beyond oneself and place oneself at the service of others.”

Life, he said, can only find meaning when serving God and others. Like Mary, young people must engage “in conversation with God with an attitude of listening” so that they may discover their calling either in marriage, consecrated life or the priesthood.