In a climate of fraternity and closeness, Pope Francis' audience with the participants of the course "Safe ecclesial environments: training in the protection of minors and vulnerable people" took place on the morning of Wednesday the 15th. Presiding bishops, national directors and everyone present in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican felt that a Pope was very comfortable among his Latin American and Caribbean brothers.

The Pope spent most of the meeting listening to the participants, after delivering his short prepared speech on the main topic of the agenda. He also spoke about migrants, women and indigenous people, realities that are sensitive to him and that he knows well in the region.

A symbolic moment of great emotion was the lighting of four candles, which mark the commitment of Cáritas Latin America and the Caribbean to the culture of care. One candle was delivered to Pope Francis, another will remain at Caritas Internationalis and another at the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The fourth sail will return to the continent and Haiti has been chosen as its custodian. At the end, everyone prayed the prayer of Good Treatment, written by a pastoral agent from Cáritas Argentina.

Safeguard: a divine name

"Safeguard" is the key word that Pope Francis highlighted to fulfill the mission of Caritas and promote a "culture of care", encapsulated in the term that implies custody, defense and protection.

The Pope highlighted a special meaning: a mark of protection in times of war, evoking biblical texts such as Ezekiel and the Apocalypse. He reflected that this sign symbolizes the call to recognize in each person assisted their dignity as a brother in Christ and to assume the divine mandate to protect the most vulnerable.

Francis stressed that "safeguarding" is a reflection of Christ inscribed in each human being and a call to act with charity and care. Finally, he asked that Jesus reward their efforts, that the Holy Spirit guide their work and that the Virgin cover them with her mantle, to bring care and protection to all.

The Lord asks us, his envoys, his angels in the sense of mission, even if not of purity, to put the sign of his blessed cross on the foreheads of all those who come to our Caritas, groaning and lamenting for so many injustices, even abominations, perpetrated against them.

The pontiff stated that "safeguard is a divine name, it is Christ himself written on the forehead of every man and woman and, as in a mirror, in the heart of each of us who, in our fragility, want to be bearers of his love, in small gestures of charity and care."

A migrant pope and open

Monsignor Gustavo Rodríguez Vega, archbishop of Yucatán and president of Cáritas Latin America and the Caribbean, underlined the warmth of the Pope and that beyond the issue of safeguarding, the issue of migration caught his attention, referring to him as a migrant. “He received us with great warmth and with a message that stimulates us to continue forward in our work at Cáritas, especially regarding the issue of safeguarding.”

Carmen María Nodal, director of Cáritas Cuba, who shared her country's experience on behalf of the region, said that it has been a very exciting day. "We have presented the safeguarding work of Cáritas Cuba as interconnected with the conference of the Bishops of Cuba. The Holy Father has been very close, very open, he has asked us, he has shared with us and I have really felt very moved by all of that."