During Sunday Mass in the Heysel district of Brussels, ending his tour of the country, Pope Francis said that in the Church there is “no place for abuses, no place for covering them up.” He added that victims of clergy sexual abuse in Belgium deserve greater financial compensation. Reuters writes that during his stay in Belgium, “the pope was pressured by the country's political leaders to take more concrete action” to address the problem of pedophilia among the Belgian clergy.
Pope Francis returned on Sunday from a four-day trip to Luxembourg and Belgium. Earlier on Sunday, he celebrated mass at the King Baudouin Stadium in the Heysel district of Brussels.
The Pope at the stadium in the Heysel district of BrusselsPAP/EPA/CIRO FUSCO
Pope: there is no place for abuses and their cover-ups
In his homily, the Pope referred to the cases of pedophilia in the Church, saying: – There is a place in the Church for everyone, everyone, but we will all be judged. There is no place for abuse, no place for cover-up.
Belgium is one of the countries where the pedophilia scandal in the Church has reached serious proportions and has been the subject of the work of a special commission. Her report caused shock due to the scale of abuses and their cover-up.
Francis recalled that during his visit to this country he met victims of abuse. – I listened to the suffering of the exploited – he assured. – I am asking everyone: do not cover up the abuses. I ask bishops, do not cover up abuses, he appealed. He called for “convicting perpetrators of abuse and helping them recover from this disease.” He added that “evil is not hidden, evil is revealed.”
Francis said that perpetrators of abuse must be brought to justice regardless of whether they are a lay person, a priest or a bishop.
Pope: compensation for clergy victims too small
Pope Francis also said that victims of clergy sexual abuse in Belgium deserve greater financial compensation, calling the amounts awarded to them so far “too small.”
Reuters writes that during his stay in Belgium, “the pope was pressured by the country's political leaders to take more concrete action to address clergy abuse.”
Pope Francis during his visit to BelgiumPAP/EPA/OLIVIER MATTHYS
Pope on criticism from a French Catholic university
On the return trip to Vatican journalists asked Francis on board the plane about the protest by the French Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve against his words on the role of women in the Church and society, which were considered “conservative”, “deterministic and belittling”. In the issued statement, the university assessed his words that “a woman is a fertile acceptance, care, life-giving sacrifice.”
The Pope said that the statement on this matter was published while he was still delivering his speech and was prepared in advance. “The masculinization of women is not human, it is not Christian,” Francis said. He also negatively assessed “exaggerated feminism”. – In the life of the Church, a woman is more important than a man – he said.
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/OLIVIER MATTHYS