Children are at the center of the Pope’s catechesis. To reflect, in particular, on the scourge of child labour. «Today we know how to turn our gaze towards Mars or towards virtual worlds, but we struggle to look into the eyes of a child who has been left on the margins and who is exploited and abused. The century that generates artificial intelligence and plans multiplanetary existences has not yet come to terms with the plague of humiliated, exploited, mortally wounded childhood. Let’s think about this, says Francesco immediately.
He starts from Sacred Scripture to say that, in the Old Testament, the word that occurs most, after that of the “divine name Jahweh, is the word ben, “son”: almost five thousand times”. And he takes up Psalm 127: “Behold, children are the inheritance of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is his reward.” Still tired and with a few coughs to clear his throat, the Pontiff recalls that, however, «this gift is not always treated with respect. The Bible itself leads us into the streets of history where songs of joy resound, but the screams of the victims also rise. For example, in the book of Lamentations we read: “The infant’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth because of thirst; the children were asking for bread and there was no one to break it for them.” And again the prophet Nahum writes «The children were smashed to pieces at the crossroads of all the roads». And even today many children “are dying of hunger and hardship, or torn apart by bombs”. And even if «the storm of Herod’s violence immediately breaks out on the newborn Jesus, who massacres the children of Bethlehem» let us think of the drama that «is repeated in other forms in history. And here, for Jesus and his parents, the nightmare of becoming refugees in a foreign country, as happens to many people today.”
Francis also takes up the Gospel of Luke when Jesus «breaking the tradition that considered the child only as a passive object, calls the disciples to him and says: “Let the children come to me and do not hinder them; in fact, the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like them.” And so he points to children as models for adults. And he adds solemnly: “Truly I say to you: whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God as a child welcomes it will not enter it”. And again, in the Gospel of Matthew, «Jesus calls a child, places him among the disciples and says: “Unless you convert and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven”. And then he warns: “Whoever scandalizes even one of these little ones who believe in me, it is better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be thrown into the depths of the sea”».
Precisely with the Scriptures in mind, Christians, the Pope insists, «should never allow children to be neglected or mistreated, to be deprived of their rights, to not be loved and protected. Christians have the duty to diligently prevent and firmly condemn violence or abuse of minors. Even today, in particular, there are too many children forced to work. But a child who doesn’t smile and doesn’t dream won’t be able to know or let his talents flourish. In every part of the earth there are children exploited by an economy that does not respect life; an economy that, in doing so, burns our greatest deposit of hope and love.” Yet “children occupy a special place in the heart of God, and”, it must be remembered, “whoever harms a child will have to answer to Him”. For this reason, we cannot accept that “little sisters and brothers, instead of being loved and protected, are robbed of their childhood, of their dreams, victims of exploitation and marginalization” and we must ensure that “every boy and girl in the world may he grow in age, wisdom and grace, receiving and giving love.”
