What we have seen and heard about pedophilia practiced by priests of the Catholic Church goes beyond the possible adjective. The way in which the institution minimizes, covers up and, in the minds of some, feels it has the property of forgiving humanity’s most horrendous crime, makes the Catholic Church behave like a criminal organization, which, if it did not have the safe conduct of society overall, I would be being judged like the mafia. And the only manifestations I see from Catholics in this regard is to organize joint prayers. It doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
But I don’t take, nor do I want to take the whole for the part. Although I am a non-believer, I respect and even admire the social and humanitarian work of the Church, and by the way of so many other religions which, in countless actions, represent the best of the best.
Humanitarianism as we know it has its pioneers in Christianity. That is why the Red Cross has had a cross as its symbol since 1863. Yes, I know that religion was also a weapon for the colonization and submission of other peoples, but there were and still are people, spread around the world, doing works of humanism. and an impact on the most vulnerable populations that makes me shudder with inspiration.
Once in the Central African Republic, in the middle of the war, I did an exploratory mission in a village, at the ends of the world, called Niem. I think it was the furthest place from civilization I’ve ever been, and I’ve seen a lot. Neither the radio nor the satellite phone had a signal. Those people, mostly Muslims, had nothing and would die for anything they could imagine. They were/are as close to water and electricity as we are to living on Mars. The only thing there was was an Italian Catholic mission.
It had a school, a church and a hospital. In the midst of that human misery, it was moving to see the noble work of these missionaries for 30 years. Compared to the surroundings, the hospital was a six-star, run by a medical priest, who treated everyone as he knew how and could, and as well as he did. It thrilled me to see your work.
This area was one of the most dangerous in the country, devastated by the civil war. Several times it had been swept away by armed groups, both Christians and Muslims, who left behind a trail of physical and sexual violence of a brutality and animality that makes me avoid its description.
One day I was talking to one of the people in charge, sister Daniela, who, already quite old, was explaining a little of their work to me. Heart touching. Of a beauty beyond the beautiful. And I asked him what is the first thing that we humanitarians learn when we are in a war scenario: “Sister Daniela, when things ‘heat up’ here, in terms of violence, what is your evacuation plan? ” And she looked me straight in the eyes, calmly with the clear and moist eyes of old age, and answered me: “Gustavo, I’ve been here for over 25 years, we never leave, and the worse ‘things’ are, the more they need us!” And she added: “Jesus came into the world to give us love, and I came here to give all the love that Jesus gave me.”
That “we never leave” has been resonating in my head until today.
I was transfixed, frozen and overwhelmed by this unexpected stroke of inspiration. Me, thinking I was doing something special, as a doctor, there three or four months ago, and I took a shower of humility that will mark me forever. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be a good person, to be a better person, to do what needs to be done with kindness for the world, as I did at that moment. And I owe it to that nun, I owe it to the Catholic Church.
There is nothing more powerful than living inspired.
I remain firm in my non-belief, but with a deep and genuine admiration for all the benefactors of Catholicism, Christianity and all other religions. And for this reason, and much more, I do not take the whole for the part.
In the same way that I think that those who should be most critical of Islamic extremism are Muslims themselves, I believe that those who should most want to clean up the disgust that is going on in the Church should be Catholics themselves.
Catholics who come to the street demand a general cleaning of the bad apples, those who committed and those who concealed the crimes.
Let the criminals and accomplices be cleansed, so that only goodness and inspiration remain.
Forever and ever, thank you Sister Daniela, and thank you Catholic Church for the beautiful things you do for the world.
Gustavo’s chronicles Ride are sponsored by the Manuel da Mota Foundation in favor of Doctors without Borders