Pope Francis (R front) is welcomed by the Belgian royal couple, King Philippe (C) and Queen Mathilde (L), during a private meeting at Castle of Laeken, the official residence of the Belgian royal family, in Laken, near Brussels, Belgium, on Friday. Photo by Olivier Hoslet/EPA-EFE
Sept. 27 (UPI) — Pope Francis asked for forgiveness in Belgium for the Catholic church’s clergy abuse scandal and its poor response to it on Friday, but the country’s prime minister called for faith’s leadership to do more.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called for the Vatican to take “concrete steps” to address the abuse as Francis started a three-day trip to Belgium.
“Victims need to be heard. They need to be at the center. They have a right to the truth. Misdeeds need to be recognized,” De Croo said.
The Christian-Democrats-Flemish Party, the Forward Party, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats Party and the Greens Party all said they would not attend the university celebration on Friday.
“Talking to some of the victims is important,” Conner Rousseau, of the Flemish Party Vooruit, said “But far more important is to crack down on any form of abuse within the church and thus avoid future victims.”
The sharp tone is in likely response to a 2023 documentary on clergy abuse in Belgium. The film led to the Belgian Federal Parliament and the regional Flemish assembly to open their own investigations into the church’s clergy scandal and its poor response to it 15 years ago.
Belgium’s King Philippe had a private meeting with Pope Francis in 2023 in Rome to ask the pontiff to visit the country to recognize the Catholic University of Leuven’s 600th anniversary.
In his address on Friday, Pope Francis said that the church must face the “shame” of child sexual abuse, calling it a “scourge” on Christian humanity.
“[Clergy abuse is] the shame that today we must confront and beg forgiveness and resolve the problem, the shame of abuse, of the abuse of minors,” the pope said, according to the Vatican News. “In the church, we must ask for forgiveness for this. This is our shame and our humiliation.”