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Pope Francis has lunch with a group of World Youth Day pilgrims at the San Jose seminary in Panama City Jan. 26. At right is Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa Mendieta of Panama. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
January 31, 2019
Junno Arocho Esteves
Catholic News Service
PANAMA CITY – A church wounded by sin can paralyze, confuse and tire the hearts of Catholic clergy and laypeople, causing them to doubt their mission in the modern world, Pope Francis said.
Celebrating Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria La Antigua Jan. 26 with priests, consecrated men and women and members of lay movements, the pope warned that the burdens and troubles in the church can lead to a “weariness of hope” that “calls into question the energy, resources and viability of our mission in this changing and challenging world.”
“The weariness of hope comes from seeing a church wounded by sin, which so often failed to hear all those cries that echoed the cry of the Master: ‘My God, why have you forsaken me?’” he said.
In his homily, the pope reflected on the reading from St. John’s Gospel in which Christ, weary from a journey, asks a Samaritan woman for a drink of water.
While many in the church seek to announce the good news as Jesus did, he said, “we do not always know how to contemplate and accompany his weariness; it seems this is not something proper to God.”
“The Lord knew what it was to be tired, and in his weariness so many struggles of our nations and peoples, our communities and all who are weary and heavily burdened can find a place,” the pope said.
While priests, laity and consecrated men and women can experience physical weariness due to long work hours or “toxic working conditions and relationships,” there is also another “subtle weariness” that “seems to have found a place in our communities.”
This weariness of hope, he added, can lead to a “gray pragmatism” that pierces the heart of the church, making it seem that while “everything apparently goes on as usual, in reality, faith is crumbling and failing.”
Also during his Panama visit, the pope shared a private lunch with pilgrims from around the world and expressed his solidarity with victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy and emphasized the need for unity and prayer, a U.S. pilgrim said.
Brenda Noriega, a youth minister from the Diocese of San Bernardino, told journalists Jan. 26 that although the experience of sharing a meal with the pope was “amazing,” she said the crisis facing the Catholic Church in the United States was an issue “that we couldn’t avoid talking about.”
Noriega was among the group of 10 pilgrims – five men and five women – chosen to share a meal with the pope at St. Joseph’s Major Seminary in Panama.
The young adults who later spoke to journalists were from the United States, Australia, the Palestinian territories, Burkina Faso, India, Spain and Panama. Each participant was given the opportunity to ask Pope Francis a question.
Noriega said it was important for her to ask the pope about the abuse crisis. His affirmation of the church’s support for survivors of sexual abuse, she said, was important to hear.
She also said Pope Francis emphasized the need for a more pastoral church, as well as the importance of prayer in discerning the best way to counter the culture of abuse and cover-up that has plagued the Catholic Church in the United States and abroad.
Noriega, who was born and raised in Mexico before moving to California, told journalists that representing Catholic young people in the United States at the private lunch was a special moment.
“Maybe you are wondering,” she told journalists, “why is the representative of the U.S. ‘toda morenita’ (all brown)? The new face of the Catholic Church in the United States has my face. It is Hispanic.”