Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, described former-Bishop Roger Vangheluwe’s TV confession that he had sexually abused two of his nephews as “inappropriate and shocking”.
During the interview Vangheluwe described the abuse with one of his nephews as “a kind of game”.
Disturbed by Vangheluwe’s detached and vacant tone, Archbishop Leonard said “He should not have spoken”.
After the first scandal, the Vatican ordered Vangheluwe to seek “spiritual and psychological treatment” at a church community at La Ferte-Imbault in France, and to stay out of the public eye.
Following the interview, which outraged many in Belgium and drew a sharp denunciation from the Council of Bishops, there have been calls for him to be prosecuted.
He has since disappeared from his French religious community.
The case has plunged the Belgian Catholic Church into new turmoil, with several bishops asking the Vatican to act quickly.
Sources
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