Belgium’s prime minister summons papal nuncio over Pope’s remarks on abortion

Prime minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) has summoned the papal nuncio to Belgium in response to the Pope’s recent remarks regarding abortion. Following his visit, the Pope referred to abortion doctors as “hired assassins” and described the country’s abortion law as “murderous.”

De Croo denounced these comments as “unacceptable” during a session in the Chamber of Representatives on Thursday. “It is absolutely unacceptable for a foreign head of state to make such statements about democratic decision-making in our country,” he asserted. “We do not need lessons on how our parliamentarians democratically approve laws. Fortunately, the time when the church dictated laws in our country is long gone.”

The prime minister stressed the importance of respecting democratically enacted laws and the physicians who perform their duties within that framework. He announced that he had invited the papal nuncio, the Pope’s ambassador in Belgium, for a discussion. “My message will be very clear: what happened there is unacceptable,” he stated.

De Croo also criticized the church for its slow response to cases of sexual abuse by clergy members. “If there is anywhere that outrage should be directed, it is towards those who have allowed incidents of sexual harassment to occur or who failed to act when they should have.”

This morning, both the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and the UZ Brussels Hospital urged the prime minister to hold the nuncio accountable for the Pope’s comments.

^{Prime Minister Alexander De Croo pictured during a plenary session of the Chamber © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}