BRUSSELS (AP) — Pope Francis demanded Sunday that priestly sexual abusers be judged and their bishops stop covering up their crimes as he ended a troubled visit to Belgium by praising the courage of survivors of a scandal that has devastated the church’s credibility. “Evil must be brought out into the open,” Francis told some 30,000 people at Belgium’s main sports stadium, drawing applause repeatedly as the crowd took in what he was saying. “There is no place for abuse.
There is no place for covering up abuse.” Francis deviated from his prepared homily to respond to the meeting he held with 17 abuse survivors on Friday night, where he heard first-hand of the trauma they endured and the tone-deaf response of the church when they reported the crimes. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.
AP’s earlier story follows below. BRUSSELS (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up a troubled visit to Belgium on Sunday with a Mass to beatify a 17th-century mystic, after dashing the hopes of one of Europe’s most storied Catholic universities by doubling down on his traditional views on women and abortion. Francis was celebrating a Mass under a spectacular sun in Brussels’ sports stadium before heading back to Rome.
The stadium is named for King Baudouin, whom Francis had praised for having abdicated for a day in 1990 rather than give his assent to a parliament-approved bill legalizing abortion. Francis’ unscheduled visit to pray at the king’s tomb and declaration that the legislat.
