Belgian bishop stripped of priesthood over child abuse dies at 89
July 3, 2026 2:56 pm
Former bishop Roger Vangheluwe in Bruges on November 7, 2006. Edwin Fontaine/Reuters)/CNN
A defrocked Belgian bishop whose admission of child sexual abuse triggered a national reckoning on the scale of paedophile crimes in the Catholic Church, has died, authorities said Friday.
The Belgian Bishops’ Conference announced Roger Vangheluwe’s death at the age of 89, saying it was “aware this news may trigger a new wave of emotion among victims.”
The former bishop of Bruges resigned in 2010 after acknowledging he had sexually abused two nephews — one of them over a 13-year period from the 1980s onward.
He was not prosecuted due to Belgium’s statute of limitations but his case prompted thousands to come forward with accounts of sexual violence in the Church spanning decades.
The scandal resurfaced in Belgium in 2023 following the broadcast of a hard-hitting documentary denouncing decades of Church inaction over clerical sexual abuse.
That led Belgian bishops to renew their call for Pope Francis to defrock Vangheluwe, who spent years in seclusion in a French abbey — a request he granted in 2024.
The rare move is considered one of the most serious punishments for a member of the clergy, and strips them of all rights including to say Mass.
AFP
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