Belgian bishops again urge perpetrator bishop to laicise

The Belgian bishops have again urged abuser and former Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe to ask for his dismissal from the clergy. Last week, for the first time in twelve years, a direct discussion took place between Vangheluwe and representatives of the Belgian Bishops' Conference, reported the Belga news agency at the weekend.. The meeting, chaired by Antwerp Bishop Johan Bonny, took place at Vangheluwe's residence in the Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes in France. "We discussed for two hours and made clear our demands for a renunciation of his rights and duties as bishop and priest," Bonny said. Bonny made the demand on behalf of the entire bishops' conference. Last Thursday, he said, he had been informed that Vangheluwe had written a letter to the Pope. However, the sender did not comment on the content.

Bonny had previously Bonny had previously expressed his incomprehension thatthat Vangheluwe, who is now 86 years old, had not been dismissed from the priesthood. After his resignation in 2010, Vangheluwe had been ordered by the Vatican not to stay in Belgium. The bishop emeritus had so far refused to ask for his own dismissal from the clergy. According to Bonny, the bishops' conference last asked the Vatican to laicise Vangheluwe last November, but received no reply. Vangheluwe himself had admitted to sexually abusing his nephew for years and submitted his resignation in 2010, which was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI within hours. In 2011, he confessed to abusing another nephew.

In the course of the broadcast of the four-part documentary "Godvergeten" ("Forgetting God"), a debate has flared up in Belgium about how the Church deals with abuse. Abuse victims have their say in the documentary. In 2019, the Belgian Bishops' Conference published a report on abuse in the church. published. Leading politicians called for a committee of enquiry after the documentary was broadcast. The Justice Committee of the Belgian Chamber of Deputies is discussing a body this week. Federal Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne is seeking to stop paying clergy convicted as abusers from tax revenues; the law in Belgium provides for clergy to be financed from state funds. (fxn)