Amid the backlash against women, Pope tells Belgians to model charity instead of scandal

BRUSSELS – Pope Francis concluded his visit to Belgium on Sunday with the beatification of Spanish nun and missionary Anna of Jesus, calling on the country’s Catholics to be a source of charity rather than scandal. Still, the pope could not avoid persistent signs of discontent among some Belgian Catholics, including scattered protests during his Mass over the exclusion of women from the priesthood.

In his speech on September 29 from the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, the Pope said that in the day’s Scripture readings, which warn that it would be better if those who cause scandal were thrown into the sea with stones around their feet: “Jesus warns for the danger of scandal, that is, of obstructing the path of the ‘little ones’.”

“It is a stern warning that calls us to pause and reflect,” he said, saying that openness, community and witness from Christians are needed if we are to avoid scandals.

Francis spoke on the final day of his September 26-29 trip to Luxembourg and Belgium, where he has faced strong criticism from national authorities over the country’s sex abuse scandals and where the leadership of Catholic universities has called for progressive reforms such as the ordination of female priests, something Francis has repeatedly said will not happen, as well as broader openness to LGBTQ+ individuals.

During his visit, the pope spoke out candidly about the need to acknowledge the abuse crisis in the church and implement reforms, returning to the theme on Sunday.

“With my heart I return to the stories of some of these little ones I met the day before yesterday. “I have heard them, I have heard their experiences with abuse, and I repeat it here: in the church there is room for everyone, everyone, everyone, but we will all be judged, and there is no room for abuse,” he said .

“There is no room for covering up abuse. I ask everyone: do not cover up abuse! I ask bishops: do not cover up abuse! Condemn the abusers and help them heal from this disease of abuse,” Francis said. “The evil must not be hidden, it must be open, discovered, as some of the abused did with courage… so that the abuser is judged, whether they are a layman or a layperson, a priest or a bishop, that they are judged. The word of God is clear.”

That language drew applause, but on another front, the pope’s handling of the role of women in the church, some Belgians were not so pleased. Every time a woman took the microphone during Sunday Mass, women stood in the crowd dressed in white to protest the refusal to ordain female priests.

The gesture came a day after the Catholic University of Leuven publicly rebuked Francis for expressing views on the role of women that it called “deterministic and reductive.”

Yes, despite the tension, the stadium was full for the Pope’s Mass, his last event in Belgium, with many enthusiastic young people.

In his homily at Mass, his last event in Belgium, Pope Francis pointed to the day’s readings, which mentioned the presence of the Holy Spirit among a gathering of elders led by Moses, as well as two men who were left behind.

“At first the absence of the two men from the group of the chosen ones was a cause of scandal. But after the Spirit rested on them, it becomes scandalous to forbid them from carrying out the mission they had indeed received,” he said.

He also noted how the disciples in the Gospel want to forbid a man from Capernaum to cast out demons in the name of Jesus. Jesus surprises them by telling them to let the man pass, saying, “He who is not against us is for us.”

Jesus invites the disciples not to be “scandalized by the freedom of God,” he said, saying the stories of both Moses and Jesus speak to modern Christian life.

Every Christian, by virtue of his baptism, has received a mission in the Church as a gift to be embraced and lived, but not a reason for boasting, he said.

“The community of believers is not a select circle of a privileged few; it is the family of those who are saved,” he said, saying Christians “are sent into the world to preach the Gospel, not on our own merits, but by the grace of God.”

To work freely with the Holy Spirit, “without being a source of scandal or an obstacle to those around us through our arrogance or rigidity,” Francis said, believers must “carry out our mission with humility, gratitude and joy.” .”

Stressing the importance of communion, the pope said the day’s second reading sends a clear message about both “riches that spoil” and the protests of harvesters that “have reached the ears of the Lord.”

This is a reminder, he said, “that the only path that leads to life is that of self-donation, of love that unites by giving of yourself.”

“The path of selfishness generates closeness, walls and obstacles – we can call them ‘scandals’ – that chain us to material things and separate us from God and from our brothers and sisters,” he said.

Selfishness, the Pope said, hinders charity and is therefore scandalous “because it crushes the little ones. It humiliates people in their dignity and suppresses the cries of those affected.”

“What would happen if we put self-interest and market mentality as the only foundations for communities and individuals?” he asked, saying the answer is that “there would be no more room for those in need, nor mercy for those who make mistakes, nor compassion for those who suffer and cannot move forward in life.”

Pointing to undocumented migrants who often fall victim to exploitation in their pursuit of a better life, he said their cries “cannot be ignored.”

“We cannot simply erase them, as if they were the dissonant note of a perfect concert performed in a perfect world,” he said, adding that their cries should also not be suppressed by “superficial attempts at social welfare.”

It is the poor and vulnerable who are the “living voice of the spirit,” he said, “because they remind us that we are all poor sinners called to conversion. We must not stifle or silence this prophetic voice through our indifference.”

Pope Francis noted that in the Gospels, Jesus condemns the “scandal” of eyes that look the other way, hands that hide away one’s riches and feet that run away from those who suffer instead of toward them.

“We must leave this mentality behind us! Nothing good or solid can be built upon it!” he said, emphasizing the need to also “sow seeds for the future” economically and socially.

To do this, he said, Christians must “place the Gospel of mercy as the basis for our choices.”

Francis emphasized the importance of bearing witness and pointed to several Belgian saints and missionaries who proclaimed God’s word, some at the cost of their lives. Quoting Anna of Jesus, whom he beatified at Sunday’s Mass, he said she followed in the footsteps of St. Teresa of Avila and was “one of the protagonists of a great reform movement.”

“At a time marked by painful scandals, within and outside the Christian community, she and her companions brought many people back to the faith through their simple lives of poverty, prayer, work and charity,” he said.

The pope urged the faithful to welcome her example of “feminine styles of holiness, gentle but strong.”

The comment comes after Pope Francis faced backlash for his comments about women during a speech at the Catholic University of Leuven on Saturday, in which he told students that “What characterizes women, what is truly feminine, is not determined by consensus or ideologies , just as dignity itself is not secured by laws written on paper, but by an original law written in our hearts.”

He also condemned instances where “a woman wants to be a man” – comments that drew criticism from the university itself and from the students in attendance.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen