Leader of the Catholic Church received six victims of sexual abuse in the Church, but there are those who think the amendment is worse than the sonnet. After that there was time for a different day at the Santiago Bernabéu
It’s not José Mourinho, it’s not Vitinha and it’s not Michael Olise, at least not yet. “Leão XIV is the star signing of this stadium” announced in the Santiago Bernabéu the organizer of the event that took the Pope to the Real Madrid venue, Christian Gálvez, in what was the highlight of the third of several days of the leader of the Catholic Church in the Spanish capital, which is caught up in a total whirlwind of emotions, as several Bad Bunny concerts are also taking place there.
Leo XIV then took a lap of honor and accepted to enter into the metaphor himself, announcing a real “goal” with this event.
“Dear brothers, dear sisters, good afternoon. Scoring a goal in this stadium is a player’s most impressive moment, but the church of Madrid did something to remember. That was a great goal,” he said, asking the entire city for communion around a common good.
A more cheerful request to lighten up a day that started off heavy, with the Pope meeting with six survivors of abuse within the Catholic Church in Spain.
The event was announced by the Vatican, but it didn’t go down well with everyone, particularly with the dozens of victims who were left out, and who accused the Pope of just wanting an opportunity to look good in the photo.
The meeting lasted about an hour, but little else is known about what happened inside, other than the attention that Leo XIV paid to proposals for the Church to become more effective in preventing problems like this.
One of the solutions was presented by the Pope himself even before the meeting, with Leo XIV asking the Spanish bishops to listen to the victims and pay them the compensation due, in what should be a sign of the Church’s “determined commitment” to those who suffered.
The most recent report shows that hundreds of people have been victims of sexual abuse in the Spanish Catholic Church over several decades, in a problem that echoes around the world, and which was also felt in Portugal.
The president of the group “Stolen Childhood”, which represents these survivors, did not think that the Pope’s action had been enough. “They are being used by the Church, by the Episcopal Conference, to clean up the image of the Spanish Church”, accused Juan Cuatrecasas, who asked for something more than meetings and words.
Continuing the metaphor started at the Santiago Bernabéu, there are those who look at the beginning of this visit as an own goal.
