Following his visit to Belgium, the Pope used very harsh terms to describe abortion. “It’s murder,” he said. “The doctors who practice this are, allow me the expression, hired killers,” the Pope said.
The mayor of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve met Pope Francis twice: “he was smiling and seemed relaxed”
Pope Francis also visited the tomb of King Baudouin in the royal crypt in Laeken. According to a Vatican press release, Pope Francis praised Baudouin’s “courage” when he chose to “leave his place as King so as not to sign a murderous law”, a clear reference to the law partially decriminalizing abortion. He also announced the opening of a procedure for the beatification of the former monarch.
“That a foreign head of state makes such a speech in relation to the laws of our country is totally unacceptable. The time when the Church dictated work is behind us,” underlined Alexander De Croo, interviewed by Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo-Groen), Katja Gabriëls (Open Vld), Charlotte Deborsu (MR) and Caroline Désir (PS).
No visit to the Laeken crypt was planned in the official program, explained Alexander De Croo, who specified that the visit had been prepared by Foreign Affairs, the Palace and the universities of Louvain (KUL) and Louvain-la -New (UCLouvain). The Pope would have insisted on praying there, in a visit announced “after the fact” as “purely private”.
“There were still official communications from the Vatican,” observed the Prime Minister, describing this visit as “less private than announced.” “I ask for respect for women who must be able to decide freely about their bodies without interference from the Church.”
Alexander De Croo recalled that the apostolic nuncio had already been summoned previously, in the context of the sexual abuse affair committed by the former bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe.
