Pope Francis said Friday the Catholic Church must “apologize” over the “crisis” of child sexual abuse during a visit to Belgium, where the church’s dark past looms large.
In a speech before political and civil society leaders beginning his three-day visit to the country, Francis condemned “tragic incidents of child abuse” as a stain on the Church’s heritage.
“This is a shame for us and an insult to us,” Francis told the gathering at the Lycchen Palace Royal Residence.
“The church should be ashamed and apologize,” he said.
The 87-year-old pontiff is due to meet a group of clerical sexual assault victims in Brussels in the afternoon, as part of a three-day stay in the European nation marred by decades of scandals and cover-ups.
The meeting at the Vatican’s diplomatic mission at 6:30 pm (1630 GMT) with about 15 victims was being conducted with “the utmost discretion”, according to the Belgian church.
It was arranged after a hard-hitting documentary last year brought Belgium’s abuse scandal back to the front pages, prompting several new victims to come forward.
In an open letter published by Le Soir newspaper this month, some called on the Pope to address child sexual abuse and establish a process for financial compensation.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in the introduction to the Pope’s speech, “Words alone are not enough. Concrete measures must also be taken.”
The pontiff said the abuse scandal is “a curse that the Church is addressing firmly and decisively by listening and accompanying those who have been injured, and by implementing a prevention program throughout the world”.
forced adoption
Francis has made tackling sexual abuse in the church a core mission of his papacy, and has emphasized a policy of “zero tolerance” in the wake of abuse scandals sweeping the world.
During his speech, Francis also said he was “saddened” to learn of a forced adoption scandal in Belgium, in which institutions run by nuns abandoned thousands of underage girls and children of unmarried women.
He said, “We see how the bitter fruits of wrongdoing and criminality unfortunately combined with the attitudes prevailing in all parts of the society at that time.”
Belgium’s HLN news site estimates that 30,000 children were snatched from their mothers in Belgium between 1945 and the 1980s.
Bishops in Belgium apologized in 2023 and requested an independent investigation after fresh testimonies emerged from women and men claiming the Catholic Church “sold out” their adoptive family.
De Croo said that child sexual abuse and forced adoption have “badly damaged trust” between the Church and society.
In a sign of the work still to be done, the program of the open-air mass to conclude Francis’ visit on Sunday had to be changed at the last minute after it emerged that the closing hymn was composed by a priest accused of sexual abuse.
The mistake prompted the head of the Belgian bishops’ conference, Archbishop Luc Terlinden, to admit that the church needed to do better at tracking cases and perpetrators.
“This is a big challenge for us, but we must think about it seriously with the help of lawyers and psychologists,” he told a local broadcaster. The musician, who died this month, had reportedly settled a sexual abuse case in 2002.
on the wane
Argentina’s Pope arrived in Belgium on Thursday evening after spending the day in neighboring Luxembourg, where he appealed for international diplomacy amid rising conflicts around the world.
He was welcomed by King Philip and Queen Mathilde, who hosted him on Friday morning, and he will visit academics at the Catholic University of Leuven in Dutch-speaking Flanders – whose 600th anniversary next year is the official reason for Francis’ visit. visit.
On Saturday, during his 46th trip abroad, Francis will meet with clergy at the vast Basilica of the Sacred Heart before discussing climate issues specifically with students in Louvain-la-Neuve in French-speaking Wallonia.
The last visit of a Pope to Brussels was in 1995, when John Paul II attended the beatification of St. Damien, who dedicated his life to lepers.
According to data from the University of Louvain, about 65 percent of the Belgian population is Christian, of which 58 percent are Catholic.
But their numbers are declining, mirroring the decline across Europe.
During his weekly general audience, Francis said he hoped his visit could be “an occasion for a new inspiration of faith”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
