And that was all before Francis met with the people most harmed by the Catholic Church in Belgium \u2014 the men and women who were raped and molested by priests as children. Seventeen abuse survivors spent two hours with Francis on Friday evening, telling him of their trauma, shame and pain and demanding reparations from the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through it all, Francis expressed his remorse, begged forgiveness and promised to do everything possible to make sure such abuses never occur again. \u201cThis is our shame and humiliation,\u201d he said in his first public remarks on Belgian soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Francis has visited countries with wretched legacies of church wrongdoing before. He made a sweeping apology to Irish abuse survivors in 2018 and traveled to Canada in 2022 to atone for the church-run residential schools that traumatized generations of Indigenous peoples.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n RELATED STORIES<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pope wraps troubled visit to Belgium by beatifying 17th century mystic during sunny stadium Mass<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Belgium’s abuse legacy clouds pope’s trip as survivors pen letter seeking reparations<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Two tales from one city show the challenges Pope Francis faces to retain his flock in Europe<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n But it is hard to think of a single day where the leader of the 1.3-billion strong Catholic Church had been subjected to such strong, public criticisms from a country\u2019s highest institutional figures \u2014 royalty, government and academia \u2014 over the church\u2019s crimes and its seemingly tone deaf responses to the demands of today\u2019s Catholics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luc Sels, the rector of Leuven Catholic University, the 600th anniversary of which was the official reason for Francis\u2019 trip to Belgium, told the pope that the abuse scandals had so weakened the church\u2019s moral authority that it would do well to reform if it wants to regain its credibility and relevance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWouldn\u2019t the church be a warmer place if women were given a prominent place,\u00a0the most prominent place, also in priesthood<\/a>?\u201d Sells asked the pope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWouldn\u2019t the church in our region gain moral authority if it were not so rigid in its approach to gender and diversity issues? And if it did, like the university does, open its arms more to the LGBTQ+ community?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The comments certainly reflected the views of European social progressives. But they also reflected the reform-minded church that Francis has embraced, to a degree, in seeking to make the universal church more relevant and responsive to Catholics today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The day began with King Philippe welcoming Francis to Laeken Castle, the residence of Belgium\u2019s royal family, and citing the abuse and forced adoption scandals in demanding the church work \u201cincessantly\u201d to atone for the crimes and help victims heal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was followed by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who was also allowed to speak in an exception to typical Vatican protocol. He used the opportunity of a face-to-face public encounter to demand \u201cconcrete steps\u201d to come clean with the full extent of the abuse scandal and put victims\u2019 interests over those of the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVictims need to be heard. They need to be at the center. They have a right to truth. Misdeeds need to be recognized,\u201d he told the pope. \u201cWhen something goes wrong we cannot accept cover-ups,\u201d he said. \u201cTo be able to look into the future, the church needs to come clean on its past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 0:00 \/ 37<\/p>\n\n\n\n AP correspondent Karen Chammas reports on Pope Francis\u2019 visit to Belgium, where top government leaders are critical of the Catholic Church\u2019s legacy of covering up sex abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was one of the most pointed welcome speeches ever directed at the pope during a foreign trip, where the genteel dictates of diplomatic protocol usually keep public remarks outrage-free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the tone underscored just how raw the abuse scandal still is in Belgium, where two decades of revelations of abuse and systematic cover-ups have devastated the hierarchy\u2019s credibility<\/a> and contributed to an overall decline in Catholicism and the influence of the once-powerful church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, victims welcomed the words from both church and state. Survivor Emmanuel Henckens said that \u201cto an extent they went to the crux of the evil. He said it was no longer possible to look the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But another abuse survivor, Koen Van Sumere, said it was now essential for the church to provide victims with substantial financial settlements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you want to move toward forgiveness and reconciliation it is not sufficient to only say \u2018I am sorry\u2019 but you have to bear the consequences it entails and you should compensate the damages,\u201d Van Sumere said. He said so far what the Belgian church had paid out \u201damounted to alms\u201d and that the settlement he received for his abuse didn\u2019t even cover the costs of his therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The victims, 17 of whom met with Francis at the Vatican residence Friday evening, had penned an open letter to him demanding a universal system of church reparations for their traumas. In a statement after the meeting, the Vatican said Francis would study their requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe pope was able to listen and get close to their suffering, expressed gratitude for their courage, and the feeling of shame for what they suffered as children because of the priests to whom they were entrusted, noting the requests made to him so that he could study them,\u201d said a statement from the Vatican spokesman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Revelations of Belgium\u2019s horrific abuse scandal have dribbled out in bits over a quarter-century, punctuated by a bombshell in 2010 when the country\u2019s longest-serving bishop, Brugge Bishop Roger Vangheluwe<\/a>, was allowed to resign without punishment after admitting he had sexually abused his nephew for 13 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Francis only defrocked Vangheluwe earlier this year, in a move clearly designed to remove a lingering source of outrage among Belgians before his visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In September 2010, the church released a 200-page report that said 507 people had come forward with stories of being molested by priests, including when they were as young as 2. It identified at least 13 suicides by victims and attempts by six more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Victims and advocates say those findings were just the tip of the iceberg and that the true scope of the scandal is far greater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In his remarks, Francis insisted that the church was \u201caddressing firmly and decisively\u201d the abuse problem by implementing prevention programs, listening to victims and accompanying them to heal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But after the astonishing dressing-down by the prime minister and king, Francis went off-script to express the shame of the church for the scandal and voice his commitment to ending it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe church must be ashamed and ask for forgiveness and try to resolve this situation with Christian humility and put all the possibilities in places so that this doesn\u2019t happen again,\u201d Francis said. \u201cBut even if it were only one (victim), it is enough to be ashamed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prime minister, king and pope also referred to a new church-related scandal rocking Belgium, over so-called \u201cforced adoptions,\u201d which echoed earlier revelations about Ireland\u2019s so-called mother and baby homes<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After World War II and through to the 1980s, many single mothers were forced by the Belgian church to offer their newborns up for adoption, with money changing hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Francis said he was \u201csaddened\u201d to learn of these practices, but said such criminality was \u201cmixed in with what was unfortunately the prevailing view in all parts of society at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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AP AUDIO: Belgian PM and king blast Pope Francis for church\u2019s sex abuse cover-up legacy in blistering welcome<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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