The King, in his capacity as Chief of the Armed Forces, first greeted the troops present on the tarmac of the military airport with Brabançonne, before being joined by Queen Mathilde.
The Pope will come to Belgium accompanied: what is the (meager) salary of his bodyguards?
A red carpet had been rolled out to the entrance to the papal plane. After long minutes, and under a sky darkened by the capricious weather, the sovereign pontiff left the plane, with a smile on his lips, where he was welcomed by the King and the Queen, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, in addition Belgian bishops, rectors of KU Leuven and UCLouvain and other ecclesiastical and civil leaders.
The Vatican anthem also sounded to welcome Pope Francis.
At the end of his welcome at the airport, the head of the Catholic Church will head to the Apostolic Nunciature in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre.
This Friday, the sovereign pontiff will go to Laeken Castle where he will be received in audience by the King and Queen, the Prime Minister, the corporate bodies and civil society. In the afternoon, he will go to Louvain on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the Louvain university.
){kind=link}