Safeguarding is essential to being faithful to Gospel, papal message says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Those who work to keep children and vulnerable adults safe are serving and honoring Christ, Pope Francis said in a written message.

"Abuse prevention is not a blanket to be spread over emergencies, but one of the foundations on which to build communities faithful to the Gospel," said the message, released by the Vatican March 25.

The message, which was dated March 20 while Pope Francis was still recovering at Rome's Gemelli hospital, was addressed to members and guests attending the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors' plenary assembly in Rome March 24-28.

"I warmly send you my greetings" and gratitude, he said in the message, telling members their "valuable service" is like "oxygen" for local churches and religious communities.

"Because wherever a child or vulnerable person is safe, there you serve and honor Christ," it said.

The work the commission does in assisting local churches is not just about norms and protocols to be applied and enforced, but about promoting real safeguarding through education, preventative measures and "listening that restores dignity," it said.

"When you establish prevention policies, even in the remotest communities, you are writing a promise: that every child, every vulnerable person, will find a safe environment in the ecclesial community," the papal message said.

In his message, the pope asked the commission to commit to three tasks:

-- To further develop and expand work with the offices of the Roman Curia.

-- To offer hospitality to victims and survivors and care for their "wounds of the soul." What survivors have to say should be listened to "with the ear of the heart" so that their testimony does not just end up being something to be documented, but encounters "depths of mercy" from which they can be reborn.

-- To build alliances with groups and people outside of the Catholic Church, such as civil authorities, experts and associations, to help safeguarding "become a universal language."

Since its establishment in 2014, the commission has "enabled a safety network to grow within the church," the pope's message said.

"May the Holy Spirit, teacher of living memory, preserve us from the temptation" to stick grief in a file and archive it instead of healing it, it said.