BRUGES (BELGIUM)
La Croix International [Montrouge Cedex, France]
March 22, 2024
By Christophe Henning
Roger Vangheluwe, former bishop of Brugge, was suspended from ministry in 2010 for sex abuse of minors; his dismissal from the clerical state was long awaited in Belgium
Pope Francis has laicized Belgian prelate Roger Vangheluwe, the former bishop of Brugge who was suspended in 2010 after admitting to abusing his young male nephews for over a decade beginning even before his ordination to the episcopacy.
The pope made the decision to permanently remove the 87-year-old Vangheluwe from the clerical state on March 10 and the news was communicated to him this past Wednesday. The move brings an end to a long affair that had dragged on for fourteen years. Belgium’s statute of limitations prevented Vangheluwe from being prosecuted for these crimes.
But the Belgian bishops had been urging the pope to laicize him for the past several years. A few months ago, his case again became a source of anger and incomprehension.
“He is still a priest and bishop – his status has not been changed. In Flanders, no one understands this,” said Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp last September.
His comment came after the Vangheluwe scandal was once again in the public spotlight following a scathing documentary on sex abuse victims — called “GodVergeten” (“Forgotten by God”) — that was broadcast on Flemish television channel VRT.
The initial resignation
Vangheluwe served as bishop of Bruges for some twenty-five years, after being appointed by John Paul II in late 1984. But after his sexual abuse came to light, and under media pressure, he resigned on April 23, 2010, admitting guilt of molesting minors while in office.
“When I was still just a priest and for a while at the beginning of my episcopate, I sexually abused a young person close to me. The victim is still affected by it. Over the past decades, I have repeatedly acknowledged my fault to him and his family, and I have asked for forgiveness. But this did not satisfy him, nor me,” he declared that day.
He then admitted to molesting a nephew from 1973-1986, and later acknowledged targeting a second nephew for two years.
Following the April 2010 declaration, Pope Benedict XVI immediately accepted Bishop Vangheluwe’s resignation. Subsequently, year after year, more victims came forward.
The Vatican’s late response
When the Church in Belgium was embroiled in an unprecedented abuse crisis back in 2011, Vangheluwe came forward again, this time downplaying the seriousness of his actions. He even dared to describe the sexual violence he committed against his nephew over thirteen years as a “small relationship”. Because the statute of limitations had run out, and he could not be tried, the Vatican imposed on him a life of prayer and penance in a monastery. Further reading: Pope praises “courageous vocation” of those who care for sex abuse survivors
In recent years, the Belgian Bishops’ Conference has repeatedly demanded his dismissal from the clerical state, but the Vatican’s response was delayed. The Belgian bishops pushed the Vatican on the issue again last October. In a statement released on Thursday (March 21), the papal nunciature in Belgium specified that, in recent months, “new serious elements concerning the case of the former Bishop of Bruges have been reported to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith”.
These may have been elements that led to the reopening of Vangheluwe’s case and prompted Pope Francis, who is planning to visit Belgium next September, to finally remove him from the clerical state.