“Embrace, be amazed by God’s great gift of children…Children are a gift. Do you understand? Children are a gift! Each is unique and each is unrepeatable; and yet unmistakably tied to his or her roots… A child is a child: a life created by us but destined for him, for his good, the good of the family, society, humanity…In the soul of every child, no matter how vulnerable, God puts the seal of this love, which is the basis of his or her personal dignity, a dignity that nothing and no one can destroy…We must know how to recognise a child’s worth…let us thank God for the gift of children” (Pope Francis)
Do we recognise the worth, the inherent dignity of our children? The nation was horrified by the recent news that a 14-month-old baby girl was sexually abused, allegedly by the 20-year-old boyfriend of the child’s mother. Both he and a 48-year-old man are being questioned by the police after the child’s grandmother noticed, while bathing the child, redness and swelling near the child’s private part. She reported her observations.