Some members of the ‘Group of 15’ who met Pope Leo last year protested at the new documentary, because they had not agreed to include a demand that Archbishop Luc Terlinden be sacked.
Sexual abuse scandals came back to haunt the Belgian Church after a television documentary, a sequel to the 2023 mini-series Godforsaken, caused further debate about slow compensation for the victims.
Belgian Church and state officials have held extensive hearings into the issue, and the Church has already paid out €9 millions to victims, but the necessary legal framework for compensating them remains elusive.
The documentary Letter to the Pope, aired on 3 March, revived debates about the scandal that broke out in 2010.
Church and state both agree the victims have priority but satisfying everyone along the way is difficult.
“The survivor testimonies in Letter to the Pope … are yet another gut punch,” said Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels. “The wounds remain raw.”
Meeting the archbishop with a group of abuse victims the next day, Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden promised to push for full legal compensation.
The Belgian parliament recommended 137 proposed reforms in 2024 but the country’s complicated system has frustrated quick action.
“We cannot achieve this alone,” Archbishop Terlinden said while welcoming Verlinden’s offer and pledging Church financial aid in realising it. “We have repeatedly asked political decision-makers to act on parliamentary recommendations.”
The broadcast also prompted protests from the “Group of 15” who met Pope Leo XIV last November at the Vatican, because some said they had not agreed to include a demand that Terlinden be sacked.
The meeting, which the late Pope Francis promised during his talk with the 15 victims during his visit to Belgium in September 2024, lasted two-and-a-half hours – an hour longer than scheduled – and was reportedly marked by “closeness, profound listening and painful dialogue”.
Belgium’s Press Council is now considering a formal bias complaint against the Flemish state television VRT, which broadcast Letter to the Pope.
Plaintiffs allege the journalist played up comments by the most critical members and avoided group spokeswoman Lieve Brouwers, who chose a middle path between the archbishop’s critics and defenders.
“He didn’t really seem capable of engaging in effective dialogue with us,” Brouwers said. “But that doesn’t mean we all agree he should be replaced.”