The Belgian federal parliament and the regional Flemish assembly have decided to review how the Catholic Church has dealt with cases of clerical sexual abuse after a television documentary recounted its failures to follow up on initial investigations.
The broadcast of the mini-series Gotvergeten (“Forgotten by God”) by Flemish television last month revealed that alleged victims felt ignored, leading to a public outcry over the Church’s slow response.
The two inquiries, which follow politicians questioning the Church’s long-standing state subsidies, will now review how the bishops have handled the scandal since it broke in 2010.
The former Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe admitted in 2010 to having sexually abused a nephew, and later said he abused a second nephew. A Church commission revealed five months later that abuse was widespread in Catholic institutions in the 1960s and 1970s and had led 13 victims to commit suicide.
That commission shut down after police raided three Church offices and took away files and computers.
Through the mini-series, viewers saw interviews with frustrated alleged victims and learned that Vangheluwe – who escaped jail because of the time elapsed since the abuse – remained an ordained bishop.
Church spokesman Fr Tommy Scholtes said Vangheluwe should be laicised. The Bishop of Antwerp Johan Bonny recently revealed, however, that the Vatican – which decides such issues – has not responded to the Belgian bishops’ request to do this.
The Bishop of Tournai Guy Harpigny, who in 2010 said the Church feared many compensation claims if it apologised, has now said it “obviously didn’t do enough since these victims are still there without having had a solution to their questions...there are things that we did not say – we should have – about the alleged abusers.”
In late September, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo urged the Church to “admit its guilt” and stop hiding behind legalities. “There is a moral responsibility to act,” he said.
Apart from uncovering Church failings to address the abuse scandal, the inquiries could also discuss ending state subsidies for the Belgian Church and television broadcasts of Sunday Mass. Some federal politicians have questioned these privileges but opposition to any change is strong in the more Catholic Flanders region.
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