2023-09-28 20:53:55
Following the shock wave caused by the documentary on sexual abuse in the Church, a parliamentary commission of inquiry is planned, and the financing of religions questioned.
Godforsaken. This is the title of the documentary that VRT has just broadcast, and which is causing a real shock wave in Flanders. A word that might be translated as “Forgotten by God”, but which is also a swear word.
Since the 1990s, sexual violence committed by priests in Belgium has been in the news. And in 2010, we experienced a first earthquake, following the revelation of sexual abuse by the Bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, once morest two nephews. This prompted an influx of testimonies, a special parliamentary commission and a judicial inquiry.
The VRT documentary puts faces to these abuses, delivering poignant and raw testimonies.
Lhe VRT documentarywhich has just been released in four parts, puts faces to these abuses, delivering poignant and raw testimonies from victims and their loved ones regarding how their bodies and lives were shattered. It also shows the concealment of the facts by the ecclesiastical authorities. Flanders is upset.
Complaints and renamings
In recent weeks, the calls to helpline 1712 jumped 31%. The effect of the Sven Pichal affair, a former VRT presenter suspected of possessing and disseminating images of child abuse, but also of the documentary Godvergeten, to which several appeals explicitly refer. On the side of justice, at least 20 new victims have been reported. And the requests for renaming are on the rise, recognize the dioceses of Hasselt and Antwerp.
The Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD), questioned Thursday in the House, called on the Catholic Church to recognize its guilt. Victims are often at a legal impasse, because the facts are time-barred. But there is also “the right moral response to give”, believes Alexander De Croo, who asks the Church to “assume its responsibility”.
A Church which, through the voice of the bishop of Antwerp, Johan Bonny, has just recognized certain errors. “I deplore that previous generations were not able to assume their responsibilities, he declared to La Libre. When victims of sexual abuse came to Cardinal Danneels, the latter did not know what to do, he did not didn’t have the right attitude.” The bishop of Antwerp also announces that the episcopal conference has given until the end of the week to Roger Vangheluwe, who was forced to resign but was never tried and still bears his title of bishop, to give it up.
A commission of inquiry
The Flemish cultural world calls on parliaments to debate on the “unique” position occupied by the Catholic Church in Belgian society, and on its “moral consequences”. And a political consensus is emerging to set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry.
The Minister of Justice has already asked the Bishop of Antwerp to remove members of the clergy found guilty of sexual violence from the list of people paid by the State.
It remains to be seen what to do, when she will only have a few months to work, given the elections scheduled for June. To recognize the suffering of the victims, some say. To determine whether the judicial investigation opened more than ten years ago, under the name Operation Chalice, was carried out correctly, others argue. To see if other tools than the temporary arbitration system put in place following the 2010 scandals to compensate victims should be imagined, others point out. And for look at the subsidies that the Church receives todaydemand some, notably at Vooruit.
The minister of justice Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open Vld) a déjà asked the Bishop of Antwerp to remove the clergy found guilty from the list of people paid by the State of sexual violence, otherwise the government is obliged to pay their salaries, he explained.
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