If we compare the figures for 2023 with those for 2016 given in the first report, we see that the total number of priests has fallen from 4,979 to 3,441, and the number of people attending Mass on the third Sunday in October from 286,400 to 167,400. In percentage terms, the declines are therefore between 30 and 40% in the space of seven years.
Belgicatho of December 18, 2024, emphasizes: "The figures are also impressive concerning the sacraments. From 2017 to 2023, baptisms fell from 50,867 to 34,826, marriages from 7,859 to 5,241, and confirmations from 41,060 to 29,580. According to the report, first communions decreased from 38,394 to 33,853."
Regarding those who have been removed from the baptismal registers, Belgicatho of December 19 reports that, according to Bosco d'Otreppe (La Libre Belgique): the year 2023, with 14,251 requests for ‘debaptism’ marks a record." In 2023, 14,251 people asked to be removed from the baptismal register, as printed in the annual report of the Catholic Church.
"This figure is notable. If, in 2021, 5,237 people had requested ‘debaptism’ (following, in particular, the publication of the CIASE report on sexual abuse in France), the average in recent years has been around 1,200 or 1,400 requests per year. The Church does not provide details on the profile of these 14,251 applicants, except that 98% of them are Dutch-speaking or are from Brussels.”
“Therefore, the increase in requests in 2023 probably may be explained in large part by the emotion caused by the broadcast on VRT of the documentary ‘Godvergeten’ [‘God’s Forgotten,’ a documentary in which witnesses reveal sexual abuse committed by members of the Belgian clergy. Editor’s note].”
Edgar Beltran on The Pillar of December 19 specifies: "When a Catholic asks to be ‘debaptized’ in Belgium, the request is noted in the margin of the baptismal register of the parish where he was baptized, but the baptismal registration is not deleted." And he points out: "the report indicates that many people have mentioned a feeling of "disgust" in the face of the sexual abuse crisis in the Church."
Scarcity of Vocations
Belgicatho of December 18 reports: "In 2017, Belgium had 2,774 diocesan priests. There were only 1,764 left in 2023. This is one of the dizzying losses recorded by the Church's latest annual report. Thus. nearly a third of the Belgian clergy has disappeared in the space of six years, informs Dimanche, the weekly newsletter of the Cathobel portal. It is an observation that is all the more worrying since the country’s seminaries only house 40 boarders.”
These figures hardly invite those in charge to a serious examination of conscience or a profound questioning of the conciliar pastoral work: “Since we launched this report, we can sense a change in the Church,” Catherine Chevalier, a theologian at UC Louvain and member of the report’s steering committee, confirmed to Dimanche.
“We are moving from belonging by tradition to belonging by choice. There is therefore a lot of work to be done to clarify what the Church offers and to continue to awaken a desire in people.” They have always been the same slogans for 60 years: “chosen membership,” “clarifying the offer,” “awakening a desire.” But the figures are stubborn, and they stubbornly indicate a failure.