Australia’s new ambassador to the Holy See is a 36-year-old mother of two with a passion for youth outreach.
Ambassador Chiara Porro presented her credentials to Pope Francis last week and is now the only resident ambassador from the Pacific region in the Vatican diplomatic corps.
“I hope to be able to inspire and act as a bit of a bridge,” Porro told CNA Sept. 1.
“I spoke with Pope Francis about young people as well and the future of the Church … And he said, ‘Yes, but, Chiara, remember that the elderly have a lot to contribute still,’” she said.
Born in Italy, Porro said that she was able to have a lengthy conversation in Italian with Pope Francis during her meeting at the Apostolic Palace last week.
“I asked him how do you engage with youth, particularly when there is this crisis of confidence,” she said.
“It has been a difficult period of the Catholic Church in Australia in the past few years. We had a royal commission into child sex abuse. There was Cardinal Pell’s case. I feel like we are coming to a time now where we can reflect back and look at the experience, look at what we went through,” she said.
“There were a lot of lessons learned, both positive and negative, from the whole experience which I hope we can find a mechanism to share some of those lessons.”
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With thanks to Catholic News Agency (CNA) and Courtney Mares, where this article originally appeared.
