Pope Francis vowed Saturday to “offer all possible assistance” to help victims of clergy sexual abuse, after a group of Belgian survivors told him of the trauma that shattered their lives and left many ‘among themselves in poverty and mental misery.
Francis’ visit to Belgium was dominated by the abuse scandal, with King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo both lambasting the Catholic Church’s terrible legacy of priests raping and molesting children and its cover-up of crimes for decades.
Francis met for more than two hours Friday evening with 17 survivors who are seeking reparation from the church for the trauma they suffered and to pay for the therapy many need. They said they gave Francis a month to consider their requests, which the Vatican said Francis was studying.
“There are so many victims. There are also so many victims who are still completely broke,” survivor Koen Van Sumere told the Associated Press. “I was also lucky enough to get a degree and build my life. But there are so many people who are completely broke and need help, who can’t afford it and who really have Need urgent help now.”
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Van Sumere said he was encouraged by the “positive” meeting with the pope, but he was waiting to see what would come of it. The meeting itself was intense, the victims said: “It was at times very emotional and at times very hard. When the Pope learned of things he did not agree with, he also made that known so that there would be real interaction. ” said Van Sumere.
He said he initially hoped the pope would receive the victims at the Vatican in the spring, during Holy Week. “And then we will not only be able to celebrate the resurrection of Christ but perhaps also the resurrection of all the victims in Belgium,” he said.
On Saturday, during a meeting with Belgian clergy and nuns at the Koekelberg basilica, Francis acknowledged that the abuse scandal had created “horrendous suffering and injuries” and undermined faith.
“It takes a lot of mercy to keep us from hardening our hearts to the suffering of the victims so that we can help them feel our closeness and offer them whatever help we can,” he said.
He said the Belgian Church must learn from and serve the victims. “Indeed, one of the roots of violence comes from the abuse of power when we use the positions we hold to crush or manipulate others,” he said.
Francis met with victims in the United States, Ireland and Canada, as well as several times at the Vatican. He cracked down on some bishops who failed to protect their faithful by adopting new ecclesiastical rules on investigations and sanctions. But the scandal continues to fester and Francis’ record is spotty, with several high-profile cases still ongoing or seemingly ignored.
Most infuriating for Belgians was that it took the Vatican 14 years to laicize Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who admitted in 2010 to abusing his nephew for 13 years. Francis defrocked him in March, a move widely seen as an attempt to resolve a problem before his visit.
After the meeting, Francis went to the royal crypt of Notre-Dame Church to pray at the tomb of King Baudouin, best known for refusing to give royal assent to a bill approved by Parliament legalizing the abortion, one of its constitutional functions.
Baudouin resigned for a day in 1990 to allow the government to pass the law, which he was required to sign, before being reinstated as king.
Francis praised Baudouin’s courage when he decided to “leave his position as king so as not to sign a homicidal law,” according to the Vatican summary of the private meeting attended by Baudouin’s nephew, King Philippe, and Queen Mathilde.
The Pope then spoke of a new legislative proposal aimed at extending the legal deadline for abortion in Belgium, from 12 to 18 weeks after conception. The bill failed at the last minute because the parties to government negotiations deemed the timing inopportune.
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Francis urged Belgians to take inspiration from Baudouin’s example to prevent such a law, and added that he hoped the cause of Baudouin’s beatification would move forward, the Vatican said.
With this visit, Francis launched straight into Belgian politics and brought the royal family with him.
The royal family is held to strict neutrality and the palace immediately issued a statement distancing itself from the visit. The statement said that the “spontaneous visit, at the request of the Pope, was not part of the official program” and added that the King and Queen were there only “out of hospitality to the Pope.”
François started the day by having breakfast – coffee and croissants – with a group of 10 homeless people and migrants taken care of by the Saint-Gilles parish in Brussels.
They sat around a table at the entrance to the parish church and told him their stories, and offered him bottles of beer that the parish makes, “La Biche de Saint-Gilles”. Profits from the sale of beer are used to finance the parish’s charitable works.
Francis thanked them for the beer and breakfast and told them that the true wealth of the Church lay in caring for the weakest.
“If we really want to know and show the beauty of the Church, we must give ourselves to one another, in our littleness, in our poverty, without pretexts and with much love.”
The breakfast meeting was chaired by Marie-Françoise Boveroulle, assistant episcopal vicar of the diocese. The position is usually held by a priest, but Boveroulle’s appointment has been highlighted as proof of the role women can and should play in the Church.
