- Pope Francis visited Belgium last weekend to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Catholic University of Leuven, the French-speaking campus of Belgium’s famous Catholic university, and faced fierce criticism for his response to an audience that revealed his views on the role of women in the Church.
- The Catholic University of Leuven has issued a sharp response to Pope Francis after he said his views of women as the “abundant” shepherds of the church “restricted and devalued” their role in the church and society, amid disappointment over the church’s handling of sexual abuse in Belgium.
- The Belgian university’s immediate response was unprecedented, given that Pope Francis has long been regarded in Europe as the pope who brings hope for the church’s progress after the conservative papal reigns of John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
The Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium’s historic Catholic university campus, has issued a fierce statement responding to Pope Francis after he arrived in Belgium for four days to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the university’s founding, his 46th missionary trip abroad. The visit, which was celebrated under the slogan “On the Road, with Hope,” was the first papal visit to Belgium since Pope John Paul II in 1985.
During his visit, Pope Francis will discuss three of his key issues: peace, immigration and climate change. However, it seems that everyone is focused on very different issues, especially on the issue of clerical sexual abuse in Belgium. At one point, the Pope answered an audience member’s question about the role of women, reiterating his view that women nourish the church, a statement that led many in the audience to question his views on women and the recent sexual abuse scandals in the Belgian church, which have caused a rout in the once-strictly Catholic church.
The university’s statement expressed its disapproval and misunderstanding of Pope Francis’ position on the role of women in the Church and society, calling the pope’s views “limiting and devaluing” the role of women.
Belgium is another country hit by a church sex abuse scandal, one of the worst in recent history, along with France, the UK and Ireland, with the Belgian parliament investigating the testimony of clergy who were found guilty of sexual abuse last year.
Vatican spokesman Nicola Bruni said Pope Francis took the issue seriously and the pope’s reform efforts were also aimed at tackling child abuse in the church. Belgian bishops said there should be severe punishment and any priest who tried to cover up stories of abuse should be removed from office.
The pope has previously created a digital platform for Catholics to report suspicions of abuse or cover-ups by bishops and set up the first high-level papal commission to address clerical abuse. But some activists say the measures are only good on paper and have not been effectively implemented.
During his visit, Pope Francis said the Roman Catholic Church was ashamed and embarrassed by the sexual abuse of children by priests in Belgium, and said it would try to resolve the situation with Christian humility and make every effort to prevent such incidents from happening again.
During a meeting with national leaders and members of civil society in Brussels, the Pope said such feelings stemmed from the shame that we must now face and address.
He has previously called the systematic sexual abuse and cover-up of the past two decades a “catastrophe”, drawing comparisons to King Herod’s massacre of innocent people, and insisted there would be no excuse for sexual abuse, whether in the Church or elsewhere.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Groove has slammed the Pope, calling for concrete steps to uncover his past and to put the interests of the abuse victims ahead of those of the institution, in the most serious attack yet on the pope during a foreign trip where diplomatic rules require politeness and respect for him not to be expressed in public speeches.
However, even King Philippe had tough words for Pope Francis, calling on the church to continue working to make amends and help victims find healing.
As the sex abuse scandal continues to rage in Belgium, the revelations have eroded the credibility of the Roman Catholic Church as a whole and diminished the influence of the once powerful Roman Catholic Church.
During the visit, students also called on the Pope to change attitudes towards women. During his 11 years as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, he has made some changes, such as allowing women to serve as priests, appointing several women to high positions in the Vatican, and saying that women must have a greater role in decision-making in the church.
However, he has ruled out the ordination of women as priests and has so far refused to consider a request that the church allow women to serve as deacons. However, he has ordered women to be removed from the discussion table at a Vatican council in three weeks, saying it is too complicated to deal with in a short time frame.
Previously, Pope Francis had already allowed Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples, marking a significant change in the church’s stance on LGBTQ+ people. However, it required certain conditions, such as the blessing being given within the context of marriage and not in a liturgical or religious context.
“Women are invisible, invisible in their experiences, invisible in their intellectual work, and there has been no mention of female theologians,” said Genevieve Damas, a Belgian writer who joined the Pope at the university.
While many see this as not the first time the Pope’s remarks on the role of women, acceptance of LGBTQ+ people and sexual abuse in the church have caused a stir, his stance on LGBTQ+ acceptance has also been met with disapproval from some outside the Roman Catholic Church who disagree with Francis’ reform efforts.
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