BRUGES, Belgium (LifeSiteNews) — Belgium’s Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who admitted to child abuse 14 years ago and received signal protection from Pope Francis’ advisor Cardinal Godfried Danneels, has been laicized.
In a communiqué issued by the Apostolic Nunciature in Belgium on March 21, it was announced that after “serious new elements” had emerged in the Vangheluwe case, Pope Francis had decided to laicize the former bishop of Bruges.
The statement read:
In recent months, serious new elements concerning the case of His Excellency Mgr Roger Vangheluwe, Bishop Emeritus of Bruges, have been reported to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith [DDF], necessitating a re-examination of the case. Following a new investigation, the Dicastery has decided to hear the prelate’s defense.
After examining the aforementioned defense, on March 8, 2024, the Dicastery presented the documentation to the Holy Father, proposing his dismissal from the clerical state, in accordance with article 26 of the norms Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela on crimes reserved to the competence of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Accordingly, after meeting with DDF Prefect Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández on March 11, Pope Francis ordered the laicization of 87-year-old Vangheluwe.
Vangheluwe was reportedly informed on March 20 and requested “to reside in a place of retreat, without any further contact with the outside world, in order to dedicate himself to prayer and penance.”
A statement from the Belgian bishops’ conference noted how the bishops “are satisfied with the news,” after they had “repeatedly asked” for such a laicization.
Further comments from the Belgian bishops’ website noted that Vangheluwe has been living “a hidden life” in the French Benedictine Abbey of Solemnes for “years,” and that he has been permitted to continue living there following his laicization.
The controversial Bishop Johan Bonny stated in September 2023 that the Belgian episcopate has “been asking for years for a reaction” from the Vatican. He aded that the issue was raised by the Belgian bishops during their November 2022 ad limina visit to Rome, but that “after the umpteenth time, Rome’s reaction is no different.”
No further information has been issued regarding the “serious new elements” mentioned.
LifeSiteNews asked the papal nuncio to Belgium, Archbishop Franco Coppola, if he had any further comment on the statement which emanated from his office, though without his signature. He replied that:
I am sorry, but we have no details beyond what is contained in the Communiqué, which was prepared by the Holy See but published by this Nunciature because it concerns a former Belgian bishop.
As can be deduced from the Communiqué, all the details you seek are in the possession only of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has received reports and instructed a new investigation.
LifeSiteNews has contacted the Abbey of Solemnes to confirm if Vangheluwe is indeed based there, as reported by the Belgian bishops’ conference.
Dominating case in Belgium
Vangheluwe has been a cause of much public scandal for years in Belgium. Bishop of Bruges from 1985 through 2010, he resigned April 23, 2010, after admitting to sexually abusing his under-age nephew over a period of 15 years. He subsequently admitted to abusing another nephew.
He was not subject to any prosecution for the abuse, owing to the Belgium statute of limitations preventing it.
However, Vangheluwe’s case has continued on ever since, particularly due to his connection to Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who consecrated him bishop in 1985.
Danneels is most well known to the wider Catholic world for joining the newly elected Pope Francis on the Vatican’s Loggia, in the first greeting of the new Pope to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square – something which was a direct instruction of Francis to the Papal Ceremoniare Monsignor Guido Marini just prior to emerging onto the balcony.
The cardinal, who died in 2019, had admitted to being part of the secretive group of left-wing prelates, the “Saint Gallen mafia,” which is widely believed to have conspired to elect Pope Francis.
Danneels was caught on tape on April 8, 2010, discouraging Vangheluwe’s nephew from reporting that he had been abused by the bishop for years. It was upon the release of the tape, during which Danneels also told the victim to “ask for forgiveness,” that Vangheluwe publicly admitted the abuse and resigned.
Despite the outrage at Danneels’ actions covering up for Vangheluwe, Francis personally appointed Danneels to participate in both the 2014 and 2015 synods on the family, stating upon Danneels’ death that the cardinal “served the Church with dedication.”
But as noted by international child rights attorney Elizabeth Yore, Danneels and Vangheluwe’s relationship and cover-up of abuse dated prior to 2010. She recorded:
The daily De Standaard newspaper reported that two former Belgian priests, Fathers Rik Deville and Norbert Bethune had personally informed Cardinal Danneels about Bishop Vangheluwe’s child sexual abuse several times between the mid-1990s and early 2000s. Father Deville told the Associated Press that he told Cardinal Danneels about a number of sexual-abuse cases. ‘The cardinal sometimes got angry and said it was not my job, that I should not get involved,’ Deville said.
Following his public admittance to child abuse, Vangheluwe was then sent for “a period of spiritual and psychological treatment,” under orders of the DDF, then known as the CDF. Such treatment was for “obtaining additional diagnostic and prognostic elements useful for continuing and concluding the procedure with a view to the decision definitive, which remains the responsibility of the Congregation itself, and to be approved by the Holy Father.”
“This decision will of course take into account the different ones aspects of the matter, starting with the suffering of the victims and the demands of justice,” the Holy See Press Office stated in April 2011.
With Vangheluwe now laicized, it will likely serve to alleviate a growing cloud which had looked likely to dominate an anticipated – though unconfirmed – papal visit to Belgium later this year.