It was not the official reason for the trip, but it was one that Pope Francis placed at the center of his visit to Belgium. In almost all his meetings, he spoke openly about abuse. He has done so in front of kings, politicians, clergy and now also during the Mass in Brussels. His words brought the whole stadium to applause.
POPE FRANCIS
I ask everyone: do not cover up abuses. I ask the bishops: do not cover up the abuses. Condemn the abusers and help them to recover from this disease of abuse. Evil cannot be hidden: evil must be brought to light, let it be known, as some abusers have done, and with courage. Let it be known. And let the abuser be judged.
The Pope's finale in Belgium also had a Spanish touch. In front of 36,000 people, Pope Francis beatified Anne of Jesus, a Discalced Carmelite nun and main collaborator of St. Teresa of Avila.
POPE FRANCIS
This woman was one of the protagonists, in the Church of her time, of a great reform movement, following in the footsteps of a “giant of the spirit”—Theresa of Avila—whose ideals she spread throughout Spain, France and even here, in Brussels, and in what was then called the Spanish Netherlands.
After the Mass, Pope Francis prayed the Angelus, and gave a surprise to all Belgians: he announced that, upon his return to Rome, he would launch the process of beatification of King Baudouin. He was a Catholic monarch who chose to be temporarily abdicated instead of sign a law that legalized abortion.
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