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POPE FRANCIS HAS said it’s okay for parents to smack their children, once their dignity in maintained.
According to widespread reports this morning, the Pope made the remarks during his weekly general audience.
Speaking about the role of fathers in the family, he said a good father should be able to “correct with firmness”.
“One time, I heard a father in a meeting with married couples say ‘I sometimes have to smack my children a bit, but never in the face so as to not humiliate them’,” Francis said, according to the Guardian.
“How beautiful.” the Pope added.
He knows the sense of dignity! He has to punish them but does it justly and moves on.
A representative of the Vatican press office said the Pope wasn’t speaking about committing violence, but about helping children to grow and mature.
Child protection
Meanwhile, Pope Francis warned clergy yesterday they must never try to cover up sexual abuse, as a new Church child protection panel prepared to meet for the first time.
In a strongly-worded letter to the heads of national bishops’ conferences and religious orders, he demanded “close and complete” cooperation with the watchdog he has established at the Vatican.
“Families need to know that the Church is making every effort to protect their children,” he said.
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which will hold its first full meeting today, has been given a brief to drive reform on an issue that has severely damaged the Church’s authority and reputation around the world.
Headed by American cardinal Sean O’Malley, it includes clerics and lay people from all corners of the world, including two victims of paedophile priests, Peter Sanders from Britain and Ireland’s Marie Collins.
Includes reporting from - © AFP 2015
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In places like Kansas or Texas, if the people there saw what our orange weather warnings were, they’d certainly have a chuckle.
@Peter Cavey: a lot of them also laugh when somebody mentions climate change. C’est la vie.
@Peter Cavey: The one thing that used to strike me when I lived upstate NY was how well they were able to manage difficult weather conditions. Roads were ALWAYS kept clear no matter how much snow fell. You would see the trucks sitting on the exits to the highways ready to go. They monitored the weather on screens in their trucks and when they knew snow was coming, they all hit the road and started spreading salt and using snow plough’s.
@David Corrigan: yes because they had it every year without fail and could justify the huge outlay. We could have services like that laid on year after year and no snow.
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