Pope Benedict XVI has demanded that the former bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe, who confessed to sexually abusing one of his nephews in the sixties, follow a strict "psychiatric and spiritual healing" to overcome the problem, but for now, no him away from the Church, the Flemish press reported today.
According to the online editions of the Flemish Het Laatste Nieuws rotary, De Morgen and De Standaard, the punishment imposed on the Vatican this weekend Vangheluwe, 74, whose exact whereabouts are unknown, is that the former cardinal leaves Belgium "definitively cured" of his illness and that, in principle, return to the small country of Benelux.
According to the VRT Flemish public radio, former Bishop of Bruges is currently a refugee in a monastery in the Loire region of France, whose name is unknown. Last week, Belgium was shocked to know that investigations by five hundred reported cases of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church among the 60, 70 and 80 are nearing completion in the trash after court sources admit that most of these crimes have been prescribed or are about to do so.
Among those implicated in the scandal figure Roger Vangheluwe, who resigned after confessing that he sexually abused at least one of his two nephews, then a minor. Soon after, a niece also denounced him for alleged "sexual touching", but the cardinal refused to accept this second case. "One day paid a visit to Sacred Heart College in Roeselare (Flanders) and at one point, in private, he asked me to drop his pants.
I began to touch the genitals. I asked him why he did, and he said that to see if he was in good health, "said the nephew in question, identified with the initials HJ However, the Flemish weekly Knack reported last week that if Vangheluwe and other similar" will soon be formally closed, " admitted as Attorney of the Kingdom of Belgium, Jean-Marie Berkvens.
Thus, there is no national judicial process against the former cardinal, whose name became "flagship" of these investigations. The news that will soon "shelved" for the majority of cases of sexual abuse committed by members of the Belgian Catholic Church in the 60, 70 and 80 is a major setback to those who have spent years struggling to bring the guilty parties before courts, even the clergy.
The fact is that for many months in Belgium did not turn to talk about this sensitive issue. And is that since the facts came to light nearly a year ago, the name seemed to have vanished Vangheluwe as wiped off the map today. It was precisely the case Vangheluwe the most national and international headlines generated about this scandal, in which the Belgian authorities went so far as to desecrate two graves in the cathedral of Mechelen, about 40 kilometers to the north of Brussels, for possible incriminating evidence .
The police operation dubbed Operation cup was later declared illegal by the Belgian courts. For months he had completely lost track of Vangheluwe. Neither the press had managed to gather more information and the hierarchy of the Belgian Catholic Church played over the issue, one that has caused more trouble in recent times.
The priest admitted molesting over 13 years of his nephew, then a minor. In April last year, tendered his resignation which was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI, although his final religious status is still "on hold". Although the abuses committed by the former bishop has been prescribed, the pope had the power, as it did this weekend, to impose a penalty without violating the national legal proceedings of any rule of law, says expert in canon law Rik Torfs, quoted by the newspaper Gazet Van Atwerpen. 
According to the online editions of the Flemish Het Laatste Nieuws rotary, De Morgen and De Standaard, the punishment imposed on the Vatican this weekend Vangheluwe, 74, whose exact whereabouts are unknown, is that the former cardinal leaves Belgium "definitively cured" of his illness and that, in principle, return to the small country of Benelux.
According to the VRT Flemish public radio, former Bishop of Bruges is currently a refugee in a monastery in the Loire region of France, whose name is unknown. Last week, Belgium was shocked to know that investigations by five hundred reported cases of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church among the 60, 70 and 80 are nearing completion in the trash after court sources admit that most of these crimes have been prescribed or are about to do so.
Among those implicated in the scandal figure Roger Vangheluwe, who resigned after confessing that he sexually abused at least one of his two nephews, then a minor. Soon after, a niece also denounced him for alleged "sexual touching", but the cardinal refused to accept this second case. "One day paid a visit to Sacred Heart College in Roeselare (Flanders) and at one point, in private, he asked me to drop his pants.
I began to touch the genitals. I asked him why he did, and he said that to see if he was in good health, "said the nephew in question, identified with the initials HJ However, the Flemish weekly Knack reported last week that if Vangheluwe and other similar" will soon be formally closed, " admitted as Attorney of the Kingdom of Belgium, Jean-Marie Berkvens.
Thus, there is no national judicial process against the former cardinal, whose name became "flagship" of these investigations. The news that will soon "shelved" for the majority of cases of sexual abuse committed by members of the Belgian Catholic Church in the 60, 70 and 80 is a major setback to those who have spent years struggling to bring the guilty parties before courts, even the clergy.
The fact is that for many months in Belgium did not turn to talk about this sensitive issue. And is that since the facts came to light nearly a year ago, the name seemed to have vanished Vangheluwe as wiped off the map today. It was precisely the case Vangheluwe the most national and international headlines generated about this scandal, in which the Belgian authorities went so far as to desecrate two graves in the cathedral of Mechelen, about 40 kilometers to the north of Brussels, for possible incriminating evidence .
The police operation dubbed Operation cup was later declared illegal by the Belgian courts. For months he had completely lost track of Vangheluwe. Neither the press had managed to gather more information and the hierarchy of the Belgian Catholic Church played over the issue, one that has caused more trouble in recent times.
The priest admitted molesting over 13 years of his nephew, then a minor. In April last year, tendered his resignation which was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI, although his final religious status is still "on hold". Although the abuses committed by the former bishop has been prescribed, the pope had the power, as it did this weekend, to impose a penalty without violating the national legal proceedings of any rule of law, says expert in canon law Rik Torfs, quoted by the newspaper Gazet Van Atwerpen.
No comments:
Post a Comment