49. Here I would also like to mention
the situation of families living
in
dire
poverty and great limitations. The problems
faced by poor households are often all the more trying.36 For
example, if a single
mother has to raise a child by herself and needs to leave the child alone at
home while she goes to work, the child can grow up exposed to all kind of risks and obstacles
to personal growth.
In such difficult situations of need,
the Church must be particularly concerned
to offer understanding, comfort and acceptance, rather
than imposing straightaway a set of rules that
only lead people
to feel judged and abandoned by the very Mother called to
show them God’s mercy.
Rather than offering the healing
power of grace and the light of the Gospel message, some would “indoctrinate” that message,
turning it into “dead stones to be hurled at others”.37
36 Cf. ibid.,
15.
37 Concluding Address of
the Fourteenth Ordinary
General Assembly
of the Synod of Bishops (24 October 2015): L’Osservatore Romano, 26-27 October 2015, p. 13
© LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA.
