{"id":10787,"date":"2015-05-30T18:16:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-30T18:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why-10617\/"},"modified":"2015-05-30T18:16:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-30T18:16:00","slug":"pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God ‘Why?’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Vatican City, May 30, 2015 \/ 12:16 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- \u201cWhy do children suffer?\u201d Pope Francis asked this of a group of children with serious illnesses or disabilities and their parents, some of whom had been told to abort their babies because of their condition.<\/p>\n

\tThe Holy Father answered with a question he might ask God while gazing at the Cross: \u201cWhy is Your Son there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is the mystery of the Cross,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tThe pontiff made these remarks during a meeting on Friday evening with the children in the chapel of the Vatican\u2019s Santa Marta residence. They were accompanied by the parents, as well as volunteers from Unitalsi Lazio \u2014 a national Italian organization that transports the sick to Lourdes, France and other international shrines.<\/p>\n

\tMost of the children were between the ages of seven and fourteen, although some were just a few years old.<\/p>\n

\tPope Francis told the children to not be afraid of asking and challenging God \u201cWhy?\u201d, even if the only answer God gives is: \u201cEven my Son suffered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBut this is the answer,\u201d the Pope said. \u201cAnd your strength is there: the loving gaze of the Father.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tOne might ask how it is that he, as Pope \u2014 who has studied a great deal of theology \u2014 does not have the answer.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cNo. The Trinity, the Eucharist, God\u2019s grace, the suffering of children is a mystery,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd one can enter into the mystery only if the Father looks upon us with love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPope Francis expressed his admiration for their strength and courage. He recalled how some of the parents present had said they had been told to have abortions, but refused because their children had the right to live.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cNever, never does killing a person resolve a problem. Never.\u201d The pontiff compared this sort of procedure to the Mafia\u2019s approach to problems.<\/p>\n

\tPope Francis assured those present that he \u201caccompanies\u201d them on their courageous journey, which is a cross, and thanked them for their example.<\/p>\n

\tIn a world marked by a culture of waste, he continued: \u201cYou are the little heroes of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vatican City, May 30, 2015 \/ 12:16 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- “Why do children suffer?” Pope Francis asked this of a group of children with serious illnesses or disabilities and their parents, some of whom had been told to abort their babies beca…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\nPope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God 'Why?'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican City, May 30, 2015 \/ 12:16 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- “Why do children suffer?” Pope Francis asked this of a group of children with serious illnesses or disabilities and their parents, some of whom had been told to abort their babies beca...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God 'Why?'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vatican City, May 30, 2015 \/ 12:16 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- “Why do children suffer?” Pope Francis asked this of a group of children with serious illnesses or disabilities and their parents, some of whom had been told to abort their babies beca...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-30T18:16:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Pope_Francis_meets_with_a_group_of_20_disabled_children___Credit_LOsservatore_Romano_900x600.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/\",\"name\":\"Pope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God 'Why?'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-30T18:16:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-05-30T18:16:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Vatican City, May 30, 2015 \/ 12:16 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- “Why do children suffer?” Pope Francis asked this of a group of children with serious illnesses or disabilities and their parents, some of whom had been told to abort their babies beca...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God ‘Why?’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God 'Why?'","description":"Vatican City, May 30, 2015 \/ 12:16 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- “Why do children suffer?” Pope Francis asked this of a group of children with serious illnesses or disabilities and their parents, some of whom had been told to abort their babies beca...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God 'Why?'","og_description":"Vatican City, May 30, 2015 \/ 12:16 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- “Why do children suffer?” Pope Francis asked this of a group of children with serious illnesses or disabilities and their parents, some of whom had been told to abort their babies beca...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2015-05-30T18:16:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Pope_Francis_meets_with_a_group_of_20_disabled_children___Credit_LOsservatore_Romano_900x600.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/","name":"Pope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God 'Why?'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-05-30T18:16:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-05-30T18:16:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Vatican City, May 30, 2015 \/ 12:16 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- “Why do children suffer?” Pope Francis asked this of a group of children with serious illnesses or disabilities and their parents, some of whom had been told to abort their babies beca...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/05\/pope-to-sick-children-dont-be-afraid-to-ask-god-why\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God ‘Why?’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}