The Pope in Belgium calls for peace, condemns abuses and forced adoptions

After arriving in Belgium in the rain on Thursday evening, Pope Francis the next day told civil authorities to prioritize peacemaking and expressed regret over recent scandals in the Belgian Church, including the crisis over clerical sexual abuse and forced adoptions.

In a conversation with the country’s civil authorities on September 27, the pope emphasized the Church’s contribution to society through its charitable works, but acknowledged that the Church must also reckon with “the fragility and shortcomings of its members, who will never fully live up to the task entrusted to it.” because it is always beyond their capabilities.”

Although it is often a force for good, the Church – he said – “lives in a specific culture, in thinking about a given era, which it sometimes helps to shape and at other times it is subjected to; and its members do not always understand and live the Gospel message in all its purity and fullness.”

To this end, Pope Francis addressed the clergy abuse scandals that have plagued the Church in Belgium, stating that abuse is “a scourge against which the Church is resolutely and resolutely fighting, listening to and accompanying those who have been hurt, and implementing measures preventive program around the world.”

In an informal remark, he referred to abuse scandals as a source of “shame” for the church.

“We remember the times of the Holy Innocents and wonder what a tragedy the king did! But today this crime is taking place in the same church and the Church must be ashamed, try to resolve this situation with Christian humility and make every effort to ensure that it does not happen again,” he said.

Noting that research shows that most abuse occurs in the family, in sports or educational settings, he said that in the church: “If there is only one, it is enough to be ashamed … that is our shame and our humiliation.”

He also said he was “saddened” by news of scandals surrounding forced adoptions in Belgium in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s.

“In these powerful stories we see how the bitter fruits of wrongdoing and crime mixed with the views that unfortunately prevailed in all parts of society at the time. What happened was that many people believed in their conscience that they were doing something good for both the child and the mother,” he said.

Both the Church and other social actors, he said, believed that in order to overcome the stigma associated with being an unwed mother at the time, it was considered “for the good of both the child and the mother that the child be given up for adoption.”

“There have even been cases where some women were not given the option to choose between keeping their children or giving them up for adoption,” he said, saying this still happens in some cultures.

Pope Francis prayed that God would help the Church in every era find the strength to “never adapt to the prevailing culture, even when that culture uses in a manipulative way the values ​​taken from the Gospel, drawing from it inauthentic conclusions that cause suffering.” “and exclusion.”

In recent years, the Catholic Church in Belgium has had to deal not only with the challenges of living in one of the most secular counties in Europe, but also with the fallout from clerical sexual abuse and forced adoption scandals.

Belgium has been particularly hit by abuse scandals, including the high-profile case of Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who was laicized by the Vatican in March. After the allegations first surfaced in 2010, Vangheluwe later admitted to several acts of sexual abuse, including some against his own nephews.

Footage also emerged of the former Archbishop of Brussels, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, apparently discouraging one of Vangheluwe’s nephews from going public with his accusations, and the leaks created a public impression of a systematic cover-up.

Last year, Dutch Belgium was shocked by the broadcast of a television documentary entitled Godvergetenor “Forsaken by God”, documenting numerous cases of abuse by Catholic priests that aroused great interest.

The broadcast led to a new parliamentary inquiry in Flanders, and in May there was widespread opposition in Brussels after three priests accused of abuse were included on the list of candidates for the archdiocese’s priestly council. Archbishop Luc Terlinden apologized, calling it a “grave mistake.”

During his stay in Belgium, Pope Francis will meet with 15 abuse victims, but details have not yet been revealed.

Forced adoptions in Belgium have also increased pressure on the Catholic Church in recent years.

In the 1950s and 1980s, institutions run by nuns took in underage girls and unmarried women and gave their children up for adoption.

An estimated 30,000 children were taken from their mothers and sold to adoptive families without the mothers’ knowledge or consent, some mothers were denied access to their children, and others were told that their children were stillborn.

Belgian bishops apologized in 2023 and asked for an independent investigation after receiving new testimony from women and people claiming they were sold by the Catholic Church to an adoptive family.

Pope Francis spoke to Belgian authorities on Friday after having a private audience with King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo earlier that morning.

In his speech, the pope praised the role Belgium played in the peace process after World War II and the role it took as a “bridge” between peoples and peoples.

“How much Europe needs Belgium to remind it that its history includes nations and cultures, cathedrals and universities, achievements of human ingenuity, but also many wars and the will to dominate, which sometimes led to colonialism and exploitation,” he said.

Europe needs Belgium to follow the path of peace and brotherhood, he said.

To this end, Francis said Belgium serves “a reminder to all others that when nations disregard borders or violate treaties, using the most diverse and untenable excuses, and when they use weapons to replace actual law with the principle of ‘might is just,'” then They open Pandora’s box, causing violent storms to hit the house, threatening to destroy it.”

In an informal remark, the pope said: “Belgium plays a very important role at this moment. We are almost close to a world war.”

Peace and harmony, he said, “can never be achieved once and for all,” but maintaining them requires consistent effort, with care and patience.

“When people forget the past and its valuable lessons, they risk falling back again, even after moving on, forgetting the suffering and terrible costs that previous generations have borne,” he said.

Belgium, said Pope Francis, can serve as a living memory for Europe and can also ensure continuous, timely social and political development, “both courageous and prudent” and “excluding from the future the idea and practice of war as a real option with all its disastrous consequences.”

He called on Belgium to set an example for Europe by regaining its “true identity” and reinvesting in the future, “opening up to life and hope, overcoming the demographic winter and the agony of war!”

“We have to be practical about it, have kids, have kids!” he said, making a similar accusation against Luxembourg citizens on Thursday.

Francis concluded his speech by expressing hope that those holding public office “will know how to assume the responsibility, risk and honor of peace, knowing how to avoid the danger, shame and absurdity of war.”

He also prayed that those in power would fear “the judgment of conscience, history and God, so that their hearts and minds would be converted to always put the common good first.”

He also repeated his condemnation of the global arms trade, saying: “at this time, when the economy has developed greatly, I want to emphasize that in some countries the investment that brings the greatest returns is the investment in weapons.”