Pope’s Belgium visit to be a moment for ‘listening and encounter’

By Joseph Tulloch – Brussels

In a little less than 24 hours, Pope Francis will be touching down in Belgium, beginning a four-day visit to the nation.

It’s a brief stop in the heart of Europe, and it contrasts sharply with the Pope’s recent two-week journey across Southeast Asia and Oceania.

So why is the Pope coming to Belgium, and how is the local Church preparing for the visit? Vatican News spoke to Fr Tommy Scholtes, SJ, the French-language spokesperson for the Belgian Bishops’ conference.

Vatican News: What are your expectations and hopes for the Pope’s visit?

Fr Scholtes: My expectations are that it will be a joyful moment, a moment of confirmation, a moment of encouragement. It will be a moment of encounter, in the sense that many people will address the Pope, people other than him will make speeches, and there will also be church leaders, the King, anonymous people, the rector of Louvain and Leuven. A lot of people are going to be talking to the Pope, and I think it’s very important to be clear that he is first and foremost a pastor, someone who wants to talk, to listen and then also be able to respond to these people in each of these different situations.

Vatican News: Compared to other countries the Pope has visited recently, Belgium is fairly secularised. What role does a papal visit have in a context like that?

Fr Scholtes:  It’s true that Belgium is a secularised country; Catholicism is only one of the religions present. You can’t say that Belgium has a strong Catholic identity, although it does have a great Catholic history. Unfortunately, sexual abuse has very much weakened the Church, and I understand that, because there have been many tragedies in that area, and we have to realise that. The Pope is going to take time to meet with victims.

I think that what I am most waiting for is, I would say, the breath of the spirit, an encouragement – first and foremost from the Pope, of course, but also from all the Churches and by all the Christians in Belgium – to live the Gospel not only in word but also in deed. If today the Church is less strong, this is perhaps also a lesson in humility. The greatest danger for a Church is, as Pope Francis himself said when in Morocco, not being in the minority, but rather being insignificant. The most important thing for us in Belgium today is for the Pope to remind us of the importance of the Church in a secular society.

Vatican News: We’re here in the Collège Saint-Michel, where the Pope will be meeting with you and your Jesuit brothers on Saturday. What does it mean for a Jesuit community to have such an intimate meeting with the leader of the worldwide Church?

Fr Scholtes: I think it will be a very emotional moment. We in the community feel that this is something very important, and also a little mysterious. The Pope will be relaxed, and we’ll be asking him for some advice, whatever he wants to tell us. I’d say it will be a heart-to-heart, not just an official speech, about whatever he wants to say to Jesuits who are committed to a city that is cosmopolitan, the capital of Europe, the capital of NATO, and a city where the Muslim community is also very present.

I think we’ll also be talking about vocations to the religious life, and the difficulty of making a full commitment to the Society of Jesus for young people. We’ll be talking about his personal life and how he encourages us to live our daily lives, not just our official or public activities, but also our prayer life. He certainly has some very good advice to give us, and the fact that it’s being told to us in person will touch our hearts even more.