Pope ends troubled Belgium visit by doubling down on abortion and women and praising abuse victims

[September 30, 2024]  By NICOLE WINFIELD

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up a troubled visit to Belgium on Sunday by doubling down on his traditional views on women and abortion and demanding that Catholic bishops stop covering up for predator priests — a scandal that has devastated the church’s credibility around the globe.

Francis revisited the key thorny topics of his trip to Belgium during his in-flight news conference coming home, praising Belgium's late King Baudouin as a “saint” for having abdicated for a day in 1990 rather than sign legislation legalizing abortion.

“You need a politician who wears pants to do this,” Francis said, using a Spanish expression. “You need courage,” he said, adding that Baudouin's beatification process was moving along.

Francis drew criticism from some in Belgium for having prayed at Baudouin's tomb and for calling the abortion law “homicidal,” given that abortion remains a political issue in Belgium, with new proposals to extend the legal limit on an abortion from 12 to 18 weeks.

“Doctors who do this are — allow me the word — hitmen. They are hitmen," Francis said. “And on this you cannot argue. You are killing a human life.”

It was the second time in as many weeks that Francis has been asked about his views on abortion during an in-flight news conference. Returning from Asia earlier this month and asked about the upcoming U.S. election, Francis said voters should chose the “lesser evil” when picking between a candidate who wants to deport migrants and one who supports abortion rights — a reference to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

Francis calls for action on church abuse

Francis used his only Mass in Belgium to publicly demand that priests who abuse young people be punished, and that the church hierarchy stop covering up their crimes. He praised the courage of victims who came forward about their abuse in improvised remarks to a crowd of some 30,000 at Brussels’ King Baudouin stadium.

“Evil must not be hidden. Evil must be brought out into the open,” Francis said to repeated rounds of applause as the crowd took in what he was saying.

Francis deviated from his prepared homily Sunday to respond to the meeting he held with 17 abuse survivors on Friday night, where he heard first-hand of the trauma and suffering they endured and the tone-deaf response of the church when they reported the crimes.

Belgium has had a wretched legacy of abuse and cover-up, none more symbolic of the church's hypocrisy than the case of Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe. He was allowed to quietly retire in 2010 after he admitted that he had sexually abused his nephew for 13 years.

Francis only defrocked him this year — 14 years later — in a move clearly seen as finally dealing with a problem before his arrival in Belgium.

The victims gave Francis a letter with several requests, including establishing a universal church system of reparations since many say the financial settlements they have received from the church don’t even cover the costs of therapy many require.

Francis praised the victims' courage and acknowledged that the settlements many have received in civil judgements — which he said he believed were capped at 50,000 euros — were not enough.

“We have the responsibility to help the abused and take care of them,” he said. "Some need psychological help: (We must) help them with this.”

Pope Francis holds the pastoral staff as he presides over the Sunday mass at King Baudouin Stadium, in Brussels Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Criticism of Francis and calls for church reform in Belgium

Francis’ visit to Belgium was always going to be difficult, given the country’s history of clerical sexual abuse and overall secularizing trends which have emptied its majestic cathedrals and churches.

But it’s unclear if he or his entourage expected such sharp public expressions of outrage or the pointed calls for reform from Belgium's intellectual elite.

The main reason for the trip was to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Leuven/Louvain Catholic University, the oldest Catholic university in the world and long the Vatican’s academic fiefdom in Belgium.

But the rector of the Dutch-speaking campus told Francis that the abuse scandal had so harmed the church’s moral authority that it would do best to reform if it wants to regain credibility and relevance. Luc Sels suggested that opening up greater roles for women — including the priesthood — and being more welcoming to LGBTQ+ Catholics would be a good place to start.

Francis heard a similar call from the French-speaking campus, where students staged a reading of an articulated critique of his landmark environmental encyclical “Praised Be” in which they called for a “paradigm shift” in the way the church views women.

They noted that the encyclical virtually ignores women, cites no female theologians and contributes to women's “invisibility” in the church and society. Women have long complained they have a second-class status in the church, barred from the priesthood and positions of power despite doing the lion’s share of the work educating the young, caring for the sick and passing on the faith.

Francis, an 87-year-old Argentine Jesuit, said he liked what they said. But he repeated his frequent refrain about women being the “fertile” nurturers who complement men, and that regardless “the church is woman.”

His words drew a remarkable rebuke from the Catholic university that invited him. As soon as he finished speaking, Louvain issued a statement expressing its “incomprehension and disapproval” of his views on women, which it said were “deterministic and reductive.”

“We cannot agree on his position for sure,” said rector Françoise Smets. “We are fighting against discrimination for women, and we would like women to have another role in the society and in the church also.”

During the in-flight news conference, Francis doubled down on women and criticized the Louvain students for what he said was a “pre-made” communique, which was distributed as soon as his remarks finished.

Francis has insisted that women's focus on ordained ministry was misplaced given his claims that they already are more important than men.

"I always speak about the dignity of women, and I said something that I can’t say about men: The church is woman," Francis said. “Women are more important than men because the church is woman.”

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