Responding to Prime Minister De Croo’s criticism of the denunciations that have been hidden in the Belgian Church, the pontiff spoke spontaneously comparing this plague to the massacre of the Innocents. “One case is enough to make you feel ashamed.” He also condemned the “forced adoptions” imposed on single mothers: “It still occurs in some cultures. The values that derive from the Gospel are manipulated, and great suffering and exclusion derive from that.”
Brussels () – Abuse against children is “a shame”. And we all “must take it into our hands, and ask for forgiveness, and solve the problem.” The scandal of pedophilia in the Church was today the central topic of the first day of the Belgian leg of Pope Francis’ apostolic trip to the heart of Europe. It is a deep wound in this country where there have been strong accusations of covering up the truth, and just last week the local Parliament voted in favor of the creation of a commission of investigation into sexual abuse against minors committed by people related to the Church. Catholic, like the bishop emeritus of Bruges, Mons. Roger Vangheluwe, who was only recently reduced by the Vatican to lay status.
It is an uncomfortable topic, which Francis decided to raise with very strong words added improvisedly to the speech he gave before King Philip and the country’s authorities, which already included a large passage dedicated to that topic in the prepared text. But after hearing harsh criticism from Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo in his welcome speech, the pontiff considered it appropriate to devote even greater attention to it.
“You are committed to a fair and equitable approach, but the road is still long – stated the head of the Brussels Government, addressing Pope Francis -. Words are not enough. Concrete measures would need to be adopted. The victims must be heard. They must occupy a central place. They have the right to the truth. To look forward, the Church must clarify its past.”
In reality – knowing perfectly well the damage caused by this wound to the Belgian Catholic community – work was already underway for a private meeting between the pontiff and about fifteen victims marked by abuse, which should take place this afternoon. But Francisco decided to express his condemnation more forcefully by referring to the evangelical page of the Massacre of the Innocents. “When we think of the holy Innocents we say, what a tragedy King Herod has caused!; However, today this type of crime is still present in the Church. The Church must be ashamed, ask for forgiveness and try to resolve this situation with Christian humility. You must set all the conditions so that this does not happen again. Some – he added – tell me: ‘Your Holiness, according to statistics the vast majority of abuse occurs in the family, in the neighborhood, in the world of sports or at school.’ A single abuse is enough to embarrass you! In the Church we must ask for forgiveness for this, and for others to ask for forgiveness for their part. This is our shame and our humiliation.”
Francis also expressed concern about another phenomenon: that of the “forced adoptions” of children of single mothers that occurred in Belgium between the 1950s and 1970s. “Frequently, families and other social entities, including the Church – commented the pontiff – thought that, to remove the negative stigma, which unfortunately in those times affected those who were single mothers, it would be better for both, mother and child, that the latter was adopted. There were even cases in which some women were not given the opportunity to decide whether to keep the child or give it up for adoption. And that still happens today in some cultures, in some countries. As successor of the apostle Peter, I pray to the Lord that the Church always finds within itself the strength to act with clarity and not to align itself with the dominant culture, even when that culture uses – manipulating them – values that derive from the Gospel, but only to extract of them illegitimate conclusions, with their consequent burdens of suffering and exclusion”.
The request for forgiveness in the speech – the same as yesterday in Luxembourg – also strongly underlined that the history of Belgium can constitute a very valuable memory for the world disfigured by the return of war. “History, a magistra vitae very often ignored – commented Francis – from Belgium calls Europe to return to its path, to recover its true face, to trust again in the future, opening itself to life, to hope, to overcome the demographic winter and the hell of war. These are the two calamities of this moment. The hell of war, which we are already seeing – which can become a world war – and the demographic winter. Given this we must be practical, we must have children! have children!”
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