As Pope Francis arrives in Belgium this week, his visit coincides with renewed scrutiny over the country’s painful legacy of clergy sexual abuse.
Survivors are calling for reparations, and the Belgian parliament has reopened investigations into past Church cover-ups.
Originally intended to commemorate the 600th anniversary of Belgium’s Catholic universities, the pope’s four-day visit has been overshadowed by the long-running abuse scandal that continues to haunt the nation.
In an open letter addressed to Francis, survivors have called for a universal system of reparations for victims of clerical abuse.
The letter states that the Catholic Church must assume full responsibility for the devastation it has caused.
It is expected to be hand-delivered when the Pope meets with 15 survivors on Thursday, according to Reverend Rik Deville, a long-time advocate for victims.
Pope Francis (L) gives a rosary to Queen Mathilde of Belgium during a private audience on March 9, 2015 at the Vatican. Mass attendance in Belgium has sharply declined, and the abuse crisis is seen as a major factor in this decline.Belgian parliament has reopened an investigation into the failed 2010 “Operation Chalice” police raids, which targeted Church offices for evidence.
GABRIEL BOUYS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Belgium’s harrowing history of Catholic child abuse came to light in a significant way in 2010 when Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges admitted to sexually abusing his nephew over a period of 13 years.
It wasn’t until last March—14 years after the admission—that Pope Francis defrocked him, a move seen by many as too little, too late.
Belgian police launched “Operation Chalice” the same year as Vangheluwe’s confession, raiding Church offices and the home of the retired Archbishop Godfried Danneels.
The raids uncovered hundreds of documents, many of which were later returned to the Church without full examination, leading to accusations of a botched investigation.
Danneels, a longtime friend of Francis, was caught on tape trying to persuade Vangheluwe’s nephew to keep quiet until the bishop retired.
“(The) hallucinatory sequence of irregularities and illegalities decapitated the investigation and deprived survivors clerical sexual abuse their fundamental right to a fair trial,” said victims’ lawyers Christine Mussche and Walter Van Steenbrugge.
Filmmaker Ingrid Schildermans, whose 2022 documentary Godvergeten (Godforsaken) aired the stories of Belgian abuse victims, emphasized that the problem was not isolated to a few bad actors.
“We put all the things that happened on a timeline, so that they couldn’t say ‘It’s one rotten apple,” she said.
Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe, in Bruges, Belgium, on Feb. 15, 2007. He was defrocked by Pope Francis in March this year, 14 years after admitting to sexually abusing his nephew for over a decade.
AP Photo/Peter Maenhoudt, File
A report in 2010 revealed over 500 cases of abuse, with victims as young as two years old.
At least 13 suicides were linked to the abuse, and the Church’s attempts to address the crisis have been widely criticized as inadequate.
Mass attendance, once a pillar of Belgian life, has plummeted to the point where Church authorities no longer release weekly figures.
Overall turnout has plummeted by 40% since 2017.
While Pope Francis will focus on immigration and climate change during his visits to Leuven University and Luxembourg, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni acknowledged that the abuse issue cannot be ignored.
“Clearly the pope is aware of the difficulty, and that for years there has been suffering in Belgium, and certainly we can expect a reference in this sense,” he said in a statement.
For many survivors, however, the damage has been done.
“It’s for them a very, very stressful and frustrating time,” Schildermans explained.
She claims some who sought meetings with the pope were told they “didn’t make the cut,” compounding their sense of betrayal by the institution they once trusted.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press