A prelate who has previously called for a relaxation of mandatory celibacy for priests has been appointed as the de facto head of the Catholic Church in Belgium.
Pope Francis has named Archbishop Jozef de Kesel as the new Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels.
Currently the Bishop of Bruges, Archbishop-elect De Kesel is seen as a moderate in comparison with his predecessor in Brussels, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard.
According to The Tablet, Bishop De Kesel, 68, has called for a relaxation of mandatory celibacy for priests and he has also said that women’s ordination is “negotiable”.
At a press conference announcing his appointment in Brussels on November 6, Bishop De Kesel is reported to have stressed his “respect” for gay people.
He added that respect for each person, regardless of their sexual orientation, “is a value that the Gospel shares with modern culture”.
Traditionally the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels is made a cardinal, although this did not happen with Archbishop Leonard.
Bishop De Kesel previously served under a leading progressive, Cardinal Godfried Danneels.
The archbishop-elect was ordained for the Diocese of Ghent in 1972 and wrote a doctoral thesis at Rome’s Gregorian University on the work of the liberal German Lutheran theologian and New Testament scholar, Rudolf Bultmann.
He has taught at a teacher training centre at the University of Leuven, the seminary in Ghent and was auxiliary Bishop of Mechen-Brussels from 2002-10.
He took over in Bruges from Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who admitted to sexually abusing two of his nephews.
Sources
- The Tablet
- Image: Deredactie