Pope Francis has again warned against the “old habit of covering up” cases of sex abuse of children “even in the Church.”
In a meeting with a group of anti-child abuse advocates on Saturday, the pope said the fight against child abuse has to be done with renewed determination by public institutions, families and educators.
“Even today, we note that the first reaction of many families is to cover up everything,” he said.
“It is always there in other institutions, even in the Church,” he said, adding that everyone “must fight this old habit of covering up.”
He renewed his call for families to fight child abuse, pedophilia, and child pornography, describing it as “psychological murder.”
The pontiff said “particular attention” should be made on education “to form a firm conscience in people and eradicate the culture of abuse and exploitation.”
The pope made the statement in a meeting on May 15 with the Meter Association, a group that champions the rights of children, especially against child pornography and pedophilia.
Pope Francis said child abuse is a kind of “psychological murder” and in many cases a “cancellation of childhood.”
He said the protection of children against sexual exploitation is a duty of all states.
The latest report by Meter Association revealed that there was a sharp surge in child pornography online during the pandemic.
“Pedophilia and child pornography are not afraid of COVID and do not need a vaccine, quite the contrary,” it said in a report released in March 18.
“If in 2020 it was everyone’s turn to stay at home, this meant a golden business for those who rape children and exploit the material produced with these little slaves of modern times,” said the report.
Data compiled by Meter’s World Observatory Against Pedophilia showed online hits on child pornography sites had almost doubled last year from the previous year.
In 2020 it showed 14,521 hits against 8,489 in 2019.
The network notes a disconcerting trend that child pornography in video format has more than doubled, from 992,300 in 2019 to 2,032,556 in 2020.
“Evidently ‘simple’ photos are no longer enough, pedophiles search and produce more videos to satisfy their unhealthy desires, their perversion finds greater satisfaction in movies,” said the group.
