Belgian Police Raid Offices of Church in Abuse Case

By Stephen Castle
New York Times
June 24, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/world/europe/25belgium.html?src=me

BRUSSELS — Belgian authorities on Thursday heightened pressure on the Roman Catholic Church in a sexual abuse scandal, raiding the Belgian church headquarters, the home of a cardinal and the offices of a commission established by the church to handle abuse complaints.

Police officers arrived at the church headquarters, the palace of the archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, on Thursday morning while the monthly bishops meeting was in progress, a church spokesman said. The police questioned all of those present, from bishops to staff members like cooks and drivers.

"It was half-past 10," said Eric de Beukelaer, a spokesman for the Belgian archbishop, André-Joseph Léonard. "The police came in and said the house would be searched because there were complaints about sexual abuse on the territory of the archdiocese." Mr. de Beukelaer said that he was present during the raid and that the police had temporarily confiscated his cellphone.

The search continued past 7 p.m., Mr. de Beukelaer said. No arrests were made, and no charges were announced.

The authorities are investigating accusations that Belgian clerics sexually abused children, according to officials. Hundreds of such claims have been raised since April, when the bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, admitted to molesting a boy and resigned.

The authorities' decision to search church property, question bishops and seize documents and other potential evidence was a major departure in such investigations and a sign that in criminal matters the church will not be afforded special treatment here.

This sort of activity "is extremely rare, very rare, especially in the house of a cardinal," said Andrea Tornielli, a Vatican expert at Il Giornale, an Italian daily newspaper. "It's enormous."

Although the raids took place during a meeting of senior clerics, a spokesman for the Brussels prosecutor's office, Jean-Marc Meilleur, said the timing was a coincidence.

The leader of the commission founded by the church to handle abuse complaints, Peter Adriaenssens, criticized the police for taking all the records the commission had accumulated, saying he was "appalled" by the raid, reported a Dutch Web site, Het Nieuwsblad.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Mr. Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist who is a leading Belgian expert on child abuse, said some people who had contacted the commission had done so in confidence and were now worried about who would have access to their statements. He said the commission had been inundated with calls and e-mail messages from those who had made complaints about abuse.

"We have no idea why this was done," he said. He added that his impression was that "in recent months a form of paranoia has developed."

Cases of sexual abuse of minors have added resonance in Belgium because of the notorious Belgian pedophile Marc Dutroux, convicted six years ago of child murder, kidnapping and rape. Government officials came under sharp criticism for mishandling the Dutroux case, and that controversy could account for the aggressive response.

Barbara Dorris, outreach director for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in a statement that the raid was "precisely what's needed, not just in Belgium but in other church offices across the globe."

Ms. Dorris added, "Police and prosecutors need to step up, and promptly and thoroughly investigate allegations against predator priests and corrupt bishops, and use their full powers to gain access to and control over church records that likely document the crimes and cover-ups."

The RTL television station in Belgium reported the raid on the home of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who retired in January as archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. The cardinal's computer was removed, RTL said. Mr. Tornielli, the Vatican expert, said that to the best of his knowledge, the cardinal would have diplomatic immunity as a Vatican official, and would have to have given permission for a police search of his home.

The Vatican had no comment on the searches in Belgium.

"As for the procedure, the bishops have always said we trust justice in making its work, and we don't have any further comment," said Mr. de Beukelaer, the archbishop's spokesman.

Nicholas Kulish contributed reporting from Berlin.