Belgium’s prime minister blasted Pope Francis for the Catholic Church’s horrific legacy of clerical sex abuse and cover-ups, demanding “concrete steps” to come back clean with the past and put victims’ interests ahead those of the institution in a blistering welcome at first of Francis’ visit on Friday.
The speech by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo was probably the most pointed ever directed on the pope during a foreign trips, where the genteel dictates of diplomatic protocol often keeps outrage out of the general public speeches. But even King Philippe had strong words for Francis, demanding the church work “incessantly” to atone for the crimes and help victims heal.
Their tone underscored just how raw the abuse scandal still is in Belgium, where twenty years of revelations of abuse and systematic cover-ups have devastated the hierarchy’s credibility and contributed to an overall decline in Catholicism and the influence of the once-powerful Catholic Church.
“Today, words alone don’t suffice. We also need concrete steps,” De Croo said. “Victims should be heard. They should be at the middle. They have a right to truth. Misdeeds should be recognized,” he said in front of an audience of royals, church officials, diplomats and politicians at Laeken Castle, the residence of Belgium’s royal family.
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