Belgium's
politicians and prelates are looking to Pope Benedict to help end a
clerical sexual abuse crisis that is crippling the local Catholic Church
and frustrating judicial authorities unable to resolve it.
Calls to punish former Bruges
Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who shocked Belgium last week by publicly
excusing abuse cases that caused his downfall last year, have come from
the Belgian prime minister, justice and foreign ministers and several
senior politicians.
Belgian bishops
have denounced Vangheluwe, 74, who quit as bishop of Bruges after
admitting to molesting his nephew, and several bishops have made clear
they want swift punitive action from the Vatican, which took control of
his case this month.
But there is
no consensus on what Benedict, who has the final say on Vangheluwe's
fate, should do.
He has shied away from stiff punishments for bishops
caught in the abuse crisis plaguing the Church in Europe and the United
States.
Belgian justice cannot
intervene because the abuse cases, which Vangheluwe admits to, all
occurred before the 20-year statute of limitations for them.
Church law
has no provision to defrock a bishop although the Vatican has done it in
rare cases.
"The Church ... should
be much more severe and much more complete than what has been said up
until now," Justice Minister Stefaan De Clerck, a Christian Democrat,
said on Friday.
Guy Harpigny, the
bishop of Tournai, said: "I hope the Holy See understands that we need
its help to clear up this affair - it's time for it to get to work."
VATICAN ORDERS TREATMENT ABROAD
Vangheluwe,
who had been hiding in Belgium since stepping down in disgrace, moved
to a French monastery several weeks ago on Vatican orders for "spiritual
and psychological treatment" pending a decision from Rome on what his
punishment should be.
Despite pleas
from brother bishops, he appeared on Belgian television last Thursday
and Friday evening and tried to play down the crisis by calling his
abuse cases "a little game."
He
outraged Belgians by denying he was a pedophile despite admitting to
also molesting a second nephew, arguing predator priests were unfairly
treated and showing little understanding of the gravity of the crisis he
had triggered.
Since his
resignation, about 500 cases of abuse over several decades have been
reported.
A Church commission studying the cases found that at least 13
victims had committed suicide over the years because the Church ignored
their complaints.
Vangheluwe's
interviews prompted calls over the weekend for him to be excommunicated,
defrocked or locked up in a monastery and barred from further contact
with the outside world.
Church law
has no provision for defrocking a bishop. But Belgian theologian Rev.
Gabriel Ringlet told Belgian television that this should not stop
Benedict from taking decisive action.
"The
pope should say loudly and clearly, 'I deeply regret that our law does
not permit it, but morally I consider that this bishop is no longer part
of our family'," he said.
DEFROCKED AND FREE?
Defrocking
him, a step many critics outside the Church seem to anticipate, would
not be the best solution because the Church would have no more authority
over him, some bishops argued.
Antwerp
Bishop Johan Bonny said Vangheluwe's interviews had "ruined a lot of
our work" to overcome the abuse crisis, but advised against simply
throwing him out of the priesthood.
"If you do that, he's a free man," Bonny told the daily De Standaard. "He can come back to Belgium, stay in France or leave for Argentina. What would that do?"
It's
not clear how much control the Church has over the rogue bishop now
anyway.
Officials have confirmed to Belgian media that he will get his
2,800-euro state pension regardless of his standing in the Church.
Vangheluwe's
whereabouts are once again unclear.
He left the secluded monastery near
Orleans on Saturday after it complained about all the media attention
his presence had caused, and does not seem to lack options to hide.
"I've
received a massive amount of offers of lodging, both from monasteries
and from individuals," he boasted in his first television interview.
"Hundreds of people have expressed their support by sending a letter or
card."