Pope Francis met with members of the crime-fighting unit of the Italian National Police and urged them to “save” women, that is to keep them safe from threats and repeated harm, and to accompany them at every stage. In addition, the Pope also emphasized the importance of prevention and education.
(Vatican News Network)Justice should be done as soon as possible, but it should not be done hastily; violence against women should be prevented, protected, educated, and accompanied at all stages to ensure that women are free from threats and repeated harm. Pope Francis made these points when he received members of the crime-fighting unit of the Italian National Police in the Vatican on November 26.
The day before the interview, November 25th was the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women” established by the United Nations. On this occasion, the Pope pointed out to the Italian police that violence against women is one of the scourges of our time. “Many women are often not only isolated and helpless when dealing with certain situations of violence, but also do not receive justice after reporting the incident, or justice takes a long time and is far away.” The Pope hopes that this will be improved.
In addition, the Pope directly appealed to the state “to ensure that the parties involved in the case are accompanied at every stage and that justice can be done for the victims as soon as possible”. The first and most urgent task is to “save” women, that is to say “to ensure their safety as far as possible from immediate threats and repeated harm”.
To achieve this goal, “just fighting crime is not enough.” The Pope called on all to “be united, to cooperate, to create a network: not just a network of protection, but a network of prevention”. The social scourge we seek to eradicate “is also linked to cultural attitudes, thinking and deep-rooted prejudices”.
Among the police officers present were many female police officers. Appreciating this, the Pope said: “This is an important resource: women help other women. You understand them better, listen to them, support them.”
Furthermore, specialized psychological and spiritual preparation is invaluable “because only by going deep can peace and calm be found and preserved, thereby conveying confidence to victims of brutal violence”. Many Christian women are examples of this, for example: St. Lucia, St. Maria Goretti.
Speaking of the two guidelines of prevention and education, the Pope had in particular the family. “We have seen that, because of the enforced quarantine, the pandemic has unfortunately intensified certain dynamics within the family. It intensifies, not creates: these are actually underlying tensions that can be addressed early on at the educational level,” he said. Education in this field must provide aid to families, and not leave them helpless. Conflicts will naturally erupt in troubled families if they are not properly supported by the consequences of the economic and social crisis.
Another key factor is dissemination. “If the mass media continue to present messages that promote hedonism and consumerism, in which men and women show that they obey the codes of success, complacency, comparison, attention and manipulation, then even here, Nor can we hypocritically express grief over certain current events”.
The Pope urged “educational action to be centered on human dignity”, pointing to the example of St. Josephine Bakhita. Suffering “heavy violence” in her childhood, the saint “received the Gospel of God’s love, was fully redeemed and became a witness of freedom and healing power”.
The Pope concluded by emphasizing that Saint Birgitta was not the only witness. Besides her, there are many “holy women next door”. With their lives, they “testify that there is no need to submit, and that the love, care and mutual assistance of brothers and sisters can save people from slavery”. Their testimonies are also presented to the young men and women of today.
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