Vatican Clarifies Punishment Against Belgian Bishop
Vatican Clarifies Punishment Against Belgian Bishop
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Vatican has ordered a Belgian bishop who resigned last year over a sexual abuse scandal to no longer act as a priest in public, at least temporarily, and warned that he might risk further church sanctions. The former bishop of Bruges, the Rev. Roger Vangheluwe, resigned after he admitted he had sexually abused a boy; it later was established that the victim, who is now in his early 40s, was his nephew. The Vatican on Tuesday clarified the punishment against the cleric after Belgian bishops reported over the weekend that he had merely been sent outside Belgium for spiritual and psychological counseling. The pope has the final say on the punishment. The Vatican’s press office said Pope Benedict XVI would eventually decide on a sentence based on the diagnosis for Father Vangheluwe and prognosis from the psychological treatment he is receiving and taking into account “the suffering of the victims and the need for justice.”
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