The Belgian Bishops’ Conference had proposed such a meeting last January. It received more than 80 requests. Fifteen women and men were selected, including witnesses from the documentary “Godvergeten” (“God’s forgotten ones” in Dutch), which relaunched the debate last year.
Locked up
The meeting, scheduled for an hour on Friday afternoon, must take place “in complete discretion.”
The priest Rik Devillé, founder of the working group “Human Rights in the Church”, is critical. In his eyes, the way in which this meeting is organized is reminiscent of the system of abuse itself. “Victims are once again locked into their past role, from which nothing can come out to the outside world,” commented the religious, whose work is the basis of “Godvergeten”. “For some, it is painful. Others are happy to hold the Pope’s hand.”
There will be no room for improvisation during the meeting, notes Rik Devillé. Clear agreements have been made on how the victims will get their message across to the head of the Catholic Church.
Useless
For each of the victims (nine Dutch-speaking, six French-speaking), four minutes are planned, including the time for presentation and translation. “That’s nothing at all, compared to the hundreds of victims,” comments Rik Devillé. He considers the interview useless. “The Pope already knows these cases. It would be good if he took his responsibilities at the global level, punished the perpetrators and took the complaints seriously.”
The Belgian Church did not provide any further details on the meeting.
