Brussels, 8th October 2024
Last weekend (September 26th to 29th), Pope Francis visited Belgium. Members of our FAFCE office in Brussels participated in public events held throughout the Apostolic visit, which was focused on the Church in Belgium. The Pope has since returned to Rome to continue the Synod on Synodality. In the backdrop of the Synod’s focus on co-responsibility, FAFCE and the CCEE have this week renewed their Memorandum of Understanding.
The Holy Father addressed KU Leuven on the Friday, the Catholic university founded in 1425. On the Saturday he surprised over 5,000 young people by appearing in person at the Hope Happening Festival in Brussels, providing an empowering speech to the new generations. He reiterated his teaching that “the only reason you should look at somebody top to bottom is to lift them up”.
On the Sunday, the Holy Father beatified Ana de Jesús, who died in Brussels in 1621. He also announced his intention to begin the beatification process for King Baudouin, who was sovereign of Belgium from 1951 until his death in 1993. His wife, Queen Fabiola, experienced five miscarriages. In 1990, the King temporarily abdicated the throne, refusing to give Royal Assent to a bill that would legalise abortion in Belgium.
In his speeches during his trip to Belgium, the Holy Father reiterated many themes that he has previously communicated at audiences he has held with FAFCE, in particular on the beauty of the family, marriage and life, and his warnings of the destructive demographic winter. Speaking to FAFCE in 2022, Pope Francis said: “This demographic winter is very serious. Please, be attentive to it! There is a very close link between this regenerative poverty and the loss of a sense of the beauty of the family: Witness to the social dignity of marriage will become persuasive precisely by being a witness that is attractive (Catechesis, 29 April 2015).”
