Acting Prime Minister Yves Leterme of Belgium has called upon the
Vatican to punish Bishop Roger Vangheluwe following a television
interview in which he downplayed his molestation of two of his nephews.
The bishop had resigned in April 2010 after the abuse of one of the
nephews came to public attention.
“The Church must assume its responsibilities-- this cannot go on,” said Leterme.
Belgium’s bishops also expressed “stupefaction” at the bishop’s comments
in the interview.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told
reporters that the comments “provoked astonishment and worry” and that
the Vatican was aware of the situation’s gravity.
Three days after the interview, Bishop Vangheluwe departed from the
French monastery to which he had been ordered by the Vatican.
The mother
superior of the Fraternités de Jérusalem in La Ferté-Imbault, a
monastic community founded in 1975, said that she did not know where he
had gone.