Survivors have penned an open letter that will be hand delivered to the pope during his visit.
As Pope Francis arrives in Belgium this week, his visit coincides with renewed scrutiny over the country's painful legacy of clergy sexual abuse.Survivors are calling for reparations, and the Belgian parliament has reopened investigations into past Church cover-ups.Originally intended to commemorate the 600th anniversary of Belgium's Catholic universities, the pope's four-day visit has been overshadowed by the long-running abuse scandal that continues to haunt the nation.
' hallucinatory sequence of irregularities and illegalities decapitated the investigation and deprived survivors clerical sexual abuse their fundamental right to a fair trial,' said victims' lawyers Christine Mussche and Walter Van Steenbrugge.Filmmaker Ingrid Schildermans, whose 2022 documentary Godvergeten aired the stories of Belgian abuse victims, emphasized that the problem was not isolated to a few bad actors.
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