Belgian church officials told a parliamentary committee that the Vatican’s failure to release a bishop who admitted to committing abuses could cast a shadow on Pope Francis’ planned visit to the country.
At a Jan. 26 hearing of the Flemish Parliamentary Committee investigating clerical abuse, Bruno Split admitted to sexually abusing his nephew in the case of Bishop Roger VanHelwe, who resigned as Bishop of Bruges in 2010. Mentioned.
Mr Split, General Secretary of the Belgian Bishops’ Conference, said: “As we are told, his church file is in Rome. After all, according to canon law, only the Holy See can remove someone from the priesthood or episcopacy.”
“In recent years, the Belgian bishops have written to the Holy See several times (in 2017 and 2019) asking them to speak more clearly about the Church’s sanctions against Roger VanHelwe.”
“In a joint letter to Pope Francis in October 2023, they reiterated their call for the removal of Roger VanHelwe from his ordination. His record weighs heavily on us and on society as a whole. It continues.”
Splietto added: “I know those in charge in Rome are aware of the scale of the scandal and are working on a solution. Until there is clarity on this issue, Pope Francis will It will be difficult to visit our country peacefully.”
“Furthermore, from the beginning, we have insisted that during that visit, Pope Francis provide the necessary time and space for personal meetings with victims who wish to have a dialogue with him. A papal visit is unthinkable without a meeting.”
Pope Francis announced in a December 2023 interview that he intended to visit Belgium in 2024, but the Vatican has not officially recognized the visit.
The commission meeting in Brussels was attended by Archbishop Luc Terlinden, who has headed the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels since June 2023, and Bishop Johann Bonny of Antwerp, representative of the Belgian bishops on clerical abuse. Participated in committee.
The three outlined the Belgian Church’s response to the clergy abuse crisis that exploded after Van Helwe’s resignation. After the bishop resigned, an independent report documented 475 allegations of abuse against clergy and church staff from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Police launched a surprise raid on church grounds, straining relations between Belgian authorities and the Vatican.
Van Helwe later admitted to abusing his second nephew, but said he did not consider himself a pedophile. He made this remark in a 2011 interview on Flemish channel VT4, sparking outrage as viewers took it as a lack of repentance on his part.
After his resignation, Van Helwe moved to France’s Catholic community, but was not prosecuted because the statute of limitations had passed by the time his actions were discovered.
The Van Helwe scandal also damaged the reputation of Cardinal Godfried Daniels, then Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. This comes after a leaked audio recording of the cardinal urging one of his nephews not to publicly accuse his uncle.
Pope Francis controversially included Daniels, who died in 2019, in his list of personal invitees to the 2015 Family Conference.
The Flemish Assembly, the legislative body of the Flemish region of Belgium, announced in October 2023 that sexual abuse in the church had been reported after the four-part documentary series “Godvergeten” (Forsaken by God) was aired on Belgian television. The establishment of a special investigation committee was approved. Channel VRT Canvas.
The series highlighted clerical abuse and cover-ups in Belgium, which reportedly led to a surge in Catholics leaving the church.
The series has reignited debate about the Van Helwe affair and why, at 87, he retains the title of bishop and continues to be a priest.
According to Belgian Catholic media, two bishops visited Van Helwe Abbey at the end of September 2023 and are required to live anonymously. They asked him to submit his resignation as bishop to Pope Francis.
Van Helwe reportedly later told one of his visitors, Bishop Bonny, that he had written a letter to the pope. The contents of the letter have not been made public.
Bonny had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the Vatican’s response to the Van Helwe incident.
In September 2023, he said that Belgian bishops had been “for years demanding a response” from the Vatican.
In comments published on the website of Belgian broadcaster VRT, he said: “Let me be frank: our bishops’ conference has been asking Rome, through its legations and directly in Rome, for years to do this.”
“Last November [2022] During the bishops’ visit to Rome, we brought this issue up for discussion again, but even after many repetitions Rome’s response remained the same. ”
The next hearing of the Flemish Parliamentary Committee will be held on February 2nd.