Europe Cheers and criticism: Pope ends Belgium trip

At the end of his visit to Belgium, Pope Francis called for more transparency in the investigation of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. "I ask everyone not to cover up the cases of abuse," said the 87-year-old pontiff at a mass in the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels. He asked the bishops to condemn the perpetrators and help the wounded to heal. "We will all have to answer to God, also for the cover-up of abuse in the Church."

The Pope received great applause for his remarks, in which he deviated from his prepared speech script. The head of the church was cheered on by almost 40,000 Catholics in the Belgian capital, with believers also traveling from Germany.

As part of his four-day stay in Belgium, Francis met with several victims of clerical abuse on Friday. According to participants, he apologized personally. It was a "frank, difficult and also emotional conversation", one of the participants told the Belgian news agency Belga. One participant told the Belgian broadcaster VRT that there was hope after the meeting that things would now move forward.

Prime Minister finds clear words

Francis had previously described abuse in the Church as a disgrace. "The Church must be ashamed and ask for forgiveness and try to do everything it can to prevent this from happening again." Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo had called on the Pontiff to take concrete steps to come to terms with the abuse. His words were unusually harsh for a greeting.

Criticism of position on the role of women

The reason for the Pontiff's four-day trip was the 600th anniversary of the Catholic University of Leuven and its partner university in Louvain-la-Neuve. His conservative statements on the role of women in a speech met with displeasure at the university.

SDA