2023-12-13 18:22:00
However, the bishops of Belgium were not surprised. Last week, the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Luc Terlinden, was still at the Vatican and sensed the Pope’s enthusiasm at the idea of coming to Belgium. But nothing was certain yet…
Here is what we already know regarding the Pope’s visit to Belgium in 2024
Luc Sels, Luc Terlinden, the King and a group of young people…
The case has been under fire for almost two years. On Wednesday March 30, 2022 at the end of the morning, the Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon (N-VA), accompanied by the rector of KULeuven Luc Sels, greeted the Pope following a general audience which they attended, and the invited for the 600th anniversary of the University of Louvain. The request was spontaneous, but it gained ground. A year later, it was Cardinal de Kesel, then archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, who sent an official invitation to Rome for the same anniversary. UCLouvain and KUleuven followed suit. And the lobbying didn’t stop there. The appointment in June of Luc Terlinden to succeed Mgr De Kesel allowed him to meet Francis on several occasions. On September 14 of this year, the Belgian royal couple in turn went to Rome to support Belgium’s invitation. Two weeks later, King Philip sent an official letter to the Pope, once more along these lines. In support of this work, the “pope’s diplomat” in Brussels – the apostolic nuncio Mgr Coppola – as well as the Belgian ambassador to the Holy See – Patrick Renault – ensured their partition.
The king’s invitation was obviously decisive, the latter explains today. But another visit was not at all anecdotal. In October 2022, one hundred young Belgians, who left as part of the Andiamo project, benefited from an interview with the Pope. “The moment they shared delighted François who was touched by their dynamism. This played a role in his choice,” he underlines, in tune with another Vatican source.
Pope’s visit to Belgium: “formal apologies” expected
A Pope who loves Belgium
This tenacity was important. The Pope receives a lot of requests and generally prefers the so-called “periphery” countries of Christianity to its historic bastions. “We are privileged,” rejoices Luc Terlinden. And if he chose Belgium, it is perhaps a lesson in humility for us, he continues with a wink: it is because we are no longer at the center.”
Several reasons can explain the choice of Belgium. The anniversary of the University of Louvain, first, and the attention that the Pope pays to the issues of education and the democratization of teaching; the speech he will give on the occasion of this anniversary will be important for him. The friendship he established with several Belgian bishops, including Jozef De Kesel whom he named cardinal in 2016. The fact, finally, that he knows the country and Belgian reality, underline Luc Terlinden and Patrick Renault. “He had as teachers some Jesuits from our country who played a big role in his training, and he was close to Belgian families in Argentina,” continues the ambassador. Without forgetting that the Pope loves Belgium, he confided to the Dutch-speaking journalist Emmanuel Van Lierde. When he was head of the Jesuits in Argentina, from 1973 to 1979, the future pope came to Belgium every 18 months, “because an association of friends of the Catholic University of Cordoba had settled there” and supported the development of this institution of which Bergoglio was grand chancellor, we can read in his work Pope Francis. The conservative revolutionary (Éditions Jésuites, 2023).
Finally, it should be noted that Belgium has not seen a Pope land since the 1995 visit of John Paul II, and that Francis’ visit will take place a few weeks before the synod, an important meeting which will decide on the future from the church. We know that before and following the Second Vatican Council, Belgian bishops and theologians, from the University of Louvain, shone through the rigor and sometimes audacity of their reflections. No doubt Francis will take them as an example.
It now remains to organize the trip which is currently announced for the end of September, that is to say at the start of the academic year of the 600th anniversary of the university. Will it last one day, two days? Where will the Pope stop? Who will he meet? Everything is to be discussed, as well as the financing of such an official visit which will be shared between the Church in Belgium, patrons who will help it, the State and the Holy See.
1702613777
#King #bishops #rector #minister #group #young #people.. #convinced #Pope #Belgium
