They had everything they needed to get along. The pope of the culture of encounter went to meet the country of consensus. However, at the end of this trip, these three days seem to be summed up in a series of controversies, relayed everywhere in the Belgian and international press. To everyone’s surprise, the Pope has in fact reactivated deep divisions during these three days. They recall that, if Belgium is a country of compromise, it is first of all because it was built on divisions that are still sharp, particularly between Catholics and anticlericals.
The first controversy broke out in the Catholic universities of Leuven and, above all, Louvain-la-Neuve, which were the official reason for the Pope’s trip on the occasion of their 600th anniversary. On September 27, at the Dutch-speaking University of Leuven (KU Leuven), the Pope had already heard, without reacting, the questioning of Rector Luc Sels (a layman) on the subject of gender issues: “Why do we tolerate this great difference between men and women, in a Church which is in fact so often supported by women? » The next day, in the large amphitheater of the French-speaking university of Louvain-la-Neuve (Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, or UCLouvain), it was the students who directly challenged the pope, in a letter they sent to him read and which initially had ecology as its theme: “Dear Pope Francis, (…) women are largely absent from Laudato si’. » The pope was also targeted in his “theology of women”, Who “exalts their maternal role while prohibiting their access to ordained ministries.”
Storm around a press release
If the tone remained cordial – “I liked what you said,” replied François –, the answer
