Pope Francis at a loss for words as street child asks: 'Why does God allow children to suffer?'

Pope Francis on Sunday morning warmly embraced a former street child, comforting the little one after emotions overcame her as she asked: 'Why does God allow so many children to suffer?'

The young girl, Glyzelle Palomar, 12, was one of four young people who spoke at the pontiff’s meeting with the youth at the University of Sto. Tomas Sunday morning. A ward of a foundation that helps street children, Glyzelle  began by telling the Pope of how many children abandoned by their parents end up in prostitution.

And then she asked: "Bakit po pumapayag ang Diyos na may ganitong nangyayari dahil walang kasalanan ang mga bata (Why does God allow this to happen to innocent children)?"

That was as far as she got before she broke into sobs.

As she and fellow Tulay ng Kabataan (Bridge of the Youth) Foundation ward Jun Chura, 14, who spoke before her, approached the pontiff for his blessing, Pope Francis drew the young girl close and hugged her.

Pope Francis later responded in his homily that it took Glyzelle "to ask a question to which there is no answer ... Why do children suffer?" The Pope was so moved by the question that he abandoned a prepared Homily. 

He exhorted people to follow Glyzelle's example and courage, "to learn to weep," noting that "it was only when Jesus cried that he learned what was going on in our lives."

"Certain realities in life, we only see through eyes that are cleansed by our tears," he said.

Chura for his part shared how he left his home and lived in the streets after his family was no longer able to send him to school. He told the Pope of having to eat other people’s leftover or beg for food and sleeping by the roadside on cardboard mats as other street children turned to crime and drugs or were lured into unfair labor; and of how he found hope again after being taken in by the Foundation.

The Pope hugged the former street children. Pope Francis told the throng at UST that "realities are superior to ideas," and, constantly turning back to Glyzelle's question, said, "your realities are superior to the paper in front of me." 

Pope Francis said people should allow themselves "to be evangelized by the poor, by the wisdom that they have."

People who aim to help and to give, he said, must also be "open to receiving". 

"Let us learn to weep as (Glyzelle) has shown us today."

'Jesus suffered ahead of all of us'

In Tacloban, where Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 devastated thousands of homes and families, the Pope on Saturday said that "Jesus suffered ahead of all of us, and he knows the experience of all calamities."

He repeated the same theme on Sunday, reminding that God, on earth as Jesus, chose to experience suffering and pain himself so that he may be closer to people and their own travails. 

The two former street children were followed by UST student Leandro Santos, who spoke of how modern technology had made many of the youth unable to “stop, listen and reflect” on God’s message; and Rikki Macolor, an electronics engineer who invented the Solar Night Light for survivors of super typhoon Yolanda and joined relief missions to Leyte in the aftermath of the powerful November 2013 storm.

Makolor asked the Pope how the youth can “be successful without being blinded by earthly pursuits” and “be agents of mercy and compassion.”

As the Pope arrived at the UST, the thousands who had been waiting for him cheered wildly, with many running to catch up with him as the popemobile took him to the football field for the meeting with the youth.

Source:http://www.interaksyon.com