POPE Francis’ four-day apostolic journey to Luxembourg and Belgium ended under a pall of criticism on the role of women and the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
He visited three cities in Belgium to mark the 600th anniversary of the Catholic universities of Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve from September 26 to 29.
He met with King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians at Laeken Castle last Friday.
King Philippe ascended the Belgian throne in 2013 and holds the title “Rex Catholicissimus,” or “(Most) Catholic Majesty.”
Queen Mathilde, as a Catholic queen, has the “privilège du blanc,” meaning she is one of only a few women in the world who can wear white, rather than the customary black, when meeting the pope for an official private audience at the Vatican.
After the formal reception, the pope addressed 300 dignitaries and political authorities, including Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
He lamented the Church’s sexual abuse crisis and urged for peace in Europe.
“There are two calamities at the moment,” Pope Francis said.
“The hell of war … which could turn into a world war and a demographic winter. This is why we must be practical. Have children. Have children.”
Mr De Croo implored the Church to prioritise the needs of victims, saying “words alone do not suffice”.
King Philippe also joined the call for accountability in his speech, stating that the Church must work “incessantly” to atone for the crimes and aid in the healing of victims.
Pope Francis also spent over two hours in private conversations with 17 victims of clerical sexual abuse that evening.
Speaking at another event with clergy and religious, Pope Francis urged them to return to the roots of the Gospel.
“We have moved from a Christianity located within a welcoming social framework to a ‘minority’ Christianity, or … a Christianity of witness,” he said.
He underlined that synodality should not be “about prioritising ‘fashionable’ reform but asking, ‘How can we bring the Gospel to a society that is no longer listening or has distanced itself from the faith?’”
The Catholic Church in Belgium is facing a significant decline in public trust.
Only 50 per cent of Belgians identified as Catholic in 2022, a drop of 16 per cent from a decade earlier, with only 8.9 per cent attending Mass at least once a month.
In Belgium, the “crisis of faith” has gone hand in hand with revelations of clerical abuse by Church leadership.
Earlier this year, Pope Francis laicised former Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe many years after the former prelate admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing his nephews.
Visiting the Catholic university in Louvain, Pope Francis made comments on the role of women in the Church, saying “womanhood speaks to us of fruitful welcome, nurturing and life-giving dedication”.
“For this reason, a woman is more important than a man, but it is terrible when a woman wants to be a man: No, she is a woman, and this is ‘heavy’ and important,” he said.
His comments drew criticism from the university, which released a statement saying his words were “conservative”, “reductionist” and “deterministic”.
Pope Francis responded to the criticism on the flight back to Rome yesterday, saying the press release was “premade” and “not moral” for having been written “in the moment in which I spoke”.
He said if this seems “conservative” to some people, it is because they do not understand, or “there is an obtuse mind that does not want to hear about this”.
At his last stop in Belgium on Sunday, Pope Francis spoke to 40,000 people in King Baudouin Stadium for the beatification Mass of Carmelite Sister Ana de Jesús.
At the end of Mass, Pope Francis led the tens of thousands of people in the stadium in praying the Angelus, a prayer, he said, that “should be revived, for it is a synthesis of the Christian mystery, and the Church teaches us to incorporate it into our daily activities”.
He also said that upon returning to Rome, he would accelerate the process of beatification of King Baudouin, who ruled as King of the Belgians from 1951 until his death in 1993.
“May his example as a man of faith enlighten the rulers,” Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis visited the king’s tomb in the royal crypt of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels on September 28.
According to the Vatican, Pope Francis praised King Baudouin’s courage for choosing to “leave his place as king in order not to sign a murderous law” legalising abortion.
Pope Francis returned to Rome on the afternoon of September 29.
