Pope moved by child's questions

MANILA, Philippines - A 12-year-old girl tearfully asked Pope Francis why God allowed suffering by children. Listening to her intently and visibly moved, Francis couldn't offer a direct reply.

Glyzelle Palomar, a former street child and one of four young people who spoke during his encounter with Filipino youth, told the pope that many children abandoned by their parents fall victim to drugs and prostitution.

"Why is God allowing something like this to happen, even to innocent children? And why are there so few who are helping us?" the girl said, breaking down in tears, unable to finish reading what she had prepared to say to the pope.

"Only when we are able to cry are we able to come close to responding to your question," Francis said. "There are some realities that you can only see through eyes that are cleansed by tears."

He said the marginalized, those who fall on the wayside and people who are "discarded" cry. "But those who are living a life that is more or less without need, we don't know how to cry," he said. Oliver Teves