BRUSSELS (BELGIUM)
Newsweek [New York NY]
September 30, 2024
By Lilith Foster-Collins
Pope Francis used his only Mass in Belgium to praise the courage of survivors of abuse at the hands of priests in improvised remarks to a crowd of some 30,000 people at Brussels’ King Baudouin stadium.
He publicly demanded priests who abuse young people be punished, and the church hierarchy stop covering up their crimes.
Belgium has a legacy of abuse and cover-up within the church, including the case of Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, a very senior member of the clergy who was allowed to quietly retire in 2010 after he admitted to have sexually abused his nephew for 13 years.
Vangheluwe was only defrocked last year by Francis.
“Evil must not be hidden. Evil must be brought out into the open,” Francis said to repeated rounds of applause.
On Friday night, Francis held a meeting with 17 abuse survivors where he heard first hand the trauma they endured and lack of action from the church when they reported the crimes.
The victims gave Francis a letter in which they requested the establishment of a universal church system of reparations.
Many abuse survivors say the financial settlements they have received from the church don’t even cover the costs of therapy many require.
Francis acknowledged the settlements many survivors have received in civil judgments were not enough.
Settlements were reportedly capped at 50,000 euros.
“We have the responsibility to help the abused and take care of them,” he said.
“Some need psychological help: (We must) help them with this.”
On Friday, Belgium’s prime minister delivered an unusually sharp criticism of Pope Francis, demanding accountability for the Catholic Church’s cover-up of clerical sex abuse.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called for “concrete steps” from the Church to prioritize survivors and acknowledge its failings.
Francis wrapped up his visit by doubling down on his traditional views on abortion.
During an in-flight news conference on Sunday, Francis praised Belgium’s late King Baudouin as a “saint” for having abdicated for a day in 1990 rather than sign legislation legalizing abortion.
“You need courage,” he said, to do that.
He also said that Baudouin’s beatification process was moving along.
Francis drew criticism for some for having prayed at Baudouin’s tomb and for calling the abortion law “homicidal.”
Abortion remains a tense political issue in Belgium, and there are new proposals to extend the legal limit on an abortion from 12 to 18 weeks.
“Doctors who do this are—allow me the word—hitmen. They are hitmen,” Francis said. “And on this you cannot argue. You are killing a human life.”
When returning from Asia earlier this month, Francis said voters should chose the “lesser evil” when voting in the American presidential election.
He slammed both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris without mentioning them by name, for what he called the antilife policies of deporting migrants and being pro abortion.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.