A possible clash over gay union blessings was avoided as Belgium’s bishops had a friendly ad limina visit to the Vatican and felt that Pope Francis and Curia officials understood realities in their highly secularised country.
Brussels Cardinal Jozef De Kesel said he and his 10 colleagues came “as bishops who have their own responsibility in their local church” and explained how a major problem like dwindling vocations was “a reality to be accepted as a chance and a challenge.”
Both the Pope and Curia officials sought to understand reasons behind their call for ordination of viri probati, women deacons and the gay union blessing that Flemish-speaking bishops backed last September.
One prelate wrote of their “incredible meeting” with the Pope, who spoke openly and told the Belgians to "stay close as bishops, stay close to your priests and stay close to the People of God."
Although their views hardly differed from many across its eastern border, the Belgians felt none of the tension that marked the ad limina visit of the German bishops only a week before theirs.
Cardinal De Kesel stressed married priests or women deacons were not just a staffing solution. Such reforms would now be important “even if there were too many vocations,” he said.
He also stressed Belgium’s francophone bishops supported “the moment of prayer when we ask God to help and bless” churchgoing homosexuals in civil partnerships that Flemish bishops backed in September.
“I’m very pleased that we were able to explain this and were listened to,” the cardinal told journalists during the 21-25 November visit.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith last year declared gay union blessings contrary to Church teaching.
The different welcomes may have been more about solutions than problems. The German Church is large, rich and influential, with a long theological tradition. Its Synodal Path strikes critics as an overly organisational and secular response to modern society.
Catholic Belgium is much smaller. Its bishops have similar views but stress their responses are challenges to practical evangelisation on a local level.
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