“Before these abominations the Church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes”. In his address to the Roman Curia for the exchange of Christmas greetings, Pope Francis used these words to sum up the “zero tolerance” line that has marked his pontificate from the very start. “The Church will never seek to hush up or not take seriously any case”, he assured: “It is undeniable that some in the past, out of irresponsibility, disbelief, lack of training, inexperience, or spiritual and human short-sightedness, treated many cases without the seriousness and promptness that was due. That must never happen again. This is the choice and the decision of the whole Church”. “This coming February, the Church will restate her firm resolve to pursue unstintingly a path of purification”, Pope Francis announced, referring to the initiative that will be held at his request next year. The Church “will question, with the help of experts, how best to protect children, to avoid these tragedies, to bring healing and restoration to the victims, and to improve the training imparted in seminaries. An effort will be made to make past mistakes opportunities for eliminating this scourge, not only from the body of the Church but also from that of society”. Indeed, “if this grave tragedy has involved some consecrated ministers, we can ask how deeply rooted it may be in our societies and in our families”, the Pope remarked, giving assurances that “the Church will not be limited to healing her own wounds, but will seek to deal squarely with this evil that causes the slow death of so many persons, on the moral, psychological and human levels”.