Pope Francis decries critics of church as
'friends of the devil'
Pontiff
disturbed over tide of accusations prior to Vatican summit on sexual abuse
Angela
Giuffrida
Wed 20 Feb
2019 17.08 GMT
Pope Francis has said that those who constantly
criticise the Catholic church are “friends of the devil”. Speaking to pilgrims
from southern Italy, the pontiff said that defects of the church needed to be
denounced so they could be corrected, but that those who condemned “without
love” were linked to the devil.
“One cannot live a whole life accusing,
accusing, accusing, the church,” he said. People who did, he said, were “the friends,
cousins and relatives of the devil”.
His remarks come as dozens of victims of
clerical sexual abuse gathered in Rome ahead of an unprecedented Vatican summit
on the issue. In the lead-up to the four-day
event, which begins on Thursday and which will be attended by about 180
bishops and cardinals, the victims have criticised the church’s failure to
sufficiently address the issue so far.
Lead-up: Phrasal verb. The events
that led up to a particular event happened one after the other until that event
occurred: Alan Tomlinson has
reconstructed the events that led up to the deaths. If someone leads up to
a particular subject, they gradually guide a conversation to a point where they
can introduce it: I'm leading up to
something quite important.
The Vatican said it hoped that the meeting
would mark a turning point. But people who had survived sexual abuse by priests
said the church was nowhere close to confronting the deeply entrenched problem.
Entrenched: If
something such as power, a custom, or an idea is entrenched, it is firmly
established, so that it would be difficult to change it. Synonyms: fixed, set, firm, rooted .
Peter Isley, spokesperson for Ending Clergy
Abuse, an organisation that brings together activists from different countries,
told reporters on Wednesday that the victims’ group would demand
Pope Francis adopted zero tolerance measures for paedophiles.
On Wednesday
(time marker = yesterday, because today, reading day, is Thursday): Past simple
“There are two points,” Isley said. “Kicking out abusive priests and expelling the bishops and
cardinals who covered them up. Resignations are not enough.”
Twelve victims met together
with the organising committee of the summit on Wednesday
afternoon. One, Phil Saviano, whose revelations to Boston Globe
journalists in 1992
led to a widespread
investigation that exposed sex abuse
by the clergy, gave a letter to the archbishop of Malta, Charles Scicluna,
asking for the names of thousands of priests found guilty of child abuse to be
released. “Peoples’ faith and trust in the Vatican is rapidly washing away,” he wrote in the letter.
On Wednesday
(time marker = yesterday): Past simple
In 1992 (time
marker, now 2019): Past simple
Widespread: Adjective.
Something that is widespread exists or happens over a large area, or to a great
extent: There is widespread support for
the new proposals. Food shortages are widespread.
Wash away: Phrasal verb. If rain or
floods wash away something, they destroy it and carry it away. Flood waters washed away one of the main
bridges in Pusan.
Anne Barrett Doyle, from the US-based website
BishopAccountability.org, told reporters in
Rome that canon law had to be fundamentally changed so that it stopped “prioritising the priesthood of ordained
men over the lives of children and vulnerable adults who are sexually assaulted
by them”.
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You are correct in
recognizing that there is a "rule" in reported speech, as in your
example: the verbs coming after a past tense reporting verb—told in this case—often appear in a
past tense form. One correct way to state the sentence you cite would be:
(a) He told them again that
they had to learn to love each
other.
However, the alternative way
to express this kind of sentence keeps the modal must in its present form:
(b) He told them again that
they must learn to love each
other.
In fact, Quirk (A
Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Longman, 1985) states: In its
obligational sense... the past of must may be replaced … by had to in
indirect speech: His parents told him that he must / had to be in by
ten that night.
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