Sunday 4 February 2024

The Pope on bullying

Recently, Pope Francis was talking on a video-link with students from Asia, and he mentioned to them the plight of an Indian girl, who was harassed and bullied because she was overweight. He told them ‘whatever you are, tall or short, fat or thin, it’s important that you accept yourself as you are. Each person has a certain beauty, and we need to recognize it – this could be outside or inside the person concerned.’ Pope Francis then relayed a story from his childhood: ‘I had a friend whom we made fun of because he was a little chubby. I can say that we even bullied him, and one day we pushed him and he fell on the ground. When I went home, my father had already heard what had happened. So he took me to the house of that boy to apologize to him and his parents.’ He concluded by saying that a few months ago, he made contact with him, and found out that he is now an Evangelical pastor in Argentina.

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