Belgian abuse victims meet Pope: gratitude and skepticism

On the evening of September 27, 2024, Pope Francis met for two hours with 17 victims of sexual abuse committed by members of the Belgian clergy.

They spoke to a number of media outlets, including EFE, La Croix, and I.MEDIA, about this deeply moving event. Here's the story.

In a vast room of the nunciature in Brussels, 17 chairs are arranged in a semi-circle facing the Pope. On this Friday evening, the Argentine Pontiff is about to face the stories that still haunt the daily lives of these men and women, sexually abused in their youth by members of the clergy.

Earlier in the day, at the Château de Laeken, the Pope pledged before the country's authorities and civil society — including the Belgian King and Prime Minister — that the Church asks forgiveness from the victims of crimes perpetrated within the Church. He compared these victims to the "Holy Innocents" slain by Herod, and said that abuse is the Church's “shame,” its “humiliation.”

Initially, 80 victims responded positively to the invitation from the Belgian Bishops' Conference. The organization explains that it never imagined for a moment that the Pope would come to Brussels without meeting victims, so violent has the shock of the revelations of recent years been for Belgian society. After an arduous selection process, some 15 of the 80 were selected for the meeting.

Alongside the Pope, two translators — one French-speaking and one Dutch-speaking — are on hand to translate for the Pontiff the stories and demands of these wounded bodies and souls. Some of the testimonies are so powerful that the Flemish translator can't help but break into tears.

Two psychologists are in the light-colored room. One is equipped with a small “Tibetan gong.” His job is to limit the victims' speaking time to three minutes. But this evening at the nunciature in Brussels, the words flow freely in the presence of Pope Francis. And the participants will only leave after two hours of dialogue — twice as long as originally planned.

“I spoke to the Pope as if he were my abuser,” says 44-year-old Anne-Sophie, who was abused by a priest when she was 10 and 11 years old. “I always kept quiet. When I wanted to speak up, my abuser had died [in 2015, editor's note],” she says, with a beaming face after the encounter.

In front of Pope Francis, she talked about her pain. “He couldn't take it anymore, but he kept listening to me,” she testifies, before adding, “at one point, he even told me that was enough.”

Nine years after the death of her tormentor, Anne-Sophie needed this exchange. “He heard my testimony, he received it. To make substitutionary forgiveness possible, you have to be worked on by the spirit. I saw that God's spirit was in the room,” adds the woman, who wears a silver cross around her neck, shining against the fabric of her dark dress. 

“Today it all begins,” she concludes, overwhelmed by the encounter. She doesn't intend to stop at this meeting, but wants to work for the universal Church to open a memorial for all victims.

“Speak to us, Francis, speak to us. Isn't it your duty as pope?” says Jean-Marc Turine, 78, who was abused by four Jesuits from 1959 onwards. “How can we say the inconceivable, the irreparable ... We're in need, Francis,” he told the 87-year-old pontiff.

He asked him to find words from his “guts” for the “thousands of people in the world who are lost and revolted by the pedo-criminality within the Church.”

Turine says he didn't get any remedies this evening. “The fact that he said, 'I'm ashamed, I ask for forgiveness, my heart bleeds...' I don't give a damn.”

“I didn't expect anything. I left the Church 50 years ago,” explains this man who says he came to the nunciature “as if he were attending a show.”

To rebuild his life, he wrote a book — Révérends Pères (“Reverend Fathers”) — in which he recounts his repeated assaults. Turine fell into alcoholism at the age of 18, only managing to kick the habit two years ago. He would like the Church to assume responsibility for financing the costs associated with the consequences of his assaults.

“The Church isn't doing enough,” says Christopher, who also suffered abused by a priest in his youth. Referring to a recent case that took four years to bring to a conclusion, the sunken-faced man murmurs that he “really had the impression that they were trying to put everything under wraps.”

But for him, his meeting with the Pope was a healthy “starting point.” Pope Francis listened a long time. During the meeting, it seemed that some names of Belgian bishops and priests reluctant to shed light on certain causes were mentioned.

“We clearly understood that there was a will on his part. When people say: 'There's such-and-such a person with whom things aren't going well ...' With the Pope, it's: 'He’s out, straight away.'”

The group of victims has reportedly made an appointment to meet the Argentine pontiff in a year's time, to take stock of the situation.

During the discussions, Pope Francis said that, in his opinion, there is no statute of limitations for crimes committed within the Church. He also explained that a bishop who covers up dysfunction has the same responsibility as an abusive priest.

There was no prayer at the apostolic nunciature in Brussels on Friday evening. But some of the victims were keen to tell Peter's Successor of their desire to help the Church in its conversion.

“I said that I wished to pray for the Church,” said Christopher, quoting from the Our Father in front of the Pope. “Don't let the Church be tempted to minimize, delay, or put a lid on it. Deliver it from evil, that is, from hypocrisy and lies.”