Belgian bishop admits child abuse; Pope accepts resignation

(April 24, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI on Friday accepted the resignation of a Belgian bishop who admitted to sexually abusing a young man. Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Brugge, Belgium, said in a statement on Friday, "When I was still a simple priest and for a certain time at the beginning of my episcopacy, I sexually abused a young man." The73-year-old bishop headed the Diocese of Brugge for more than 25 years. In his statement, the Belgian bishop said, "Over the course of the last decades, I repeatedly recognized how I sinned against him and his family and I asked forgiveness. But this did not appease him. Nor me. "The media storm in the last few weeks has reinforced the trauma," the bishop said. "It is no longer possible to continue in this situation." Bishop Vangheluwe said, "I am deeply sorry for what I did and I offer my sincerest apologies to the victim, to his family, to the whole Catholic community and society in general. Meanwhile, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard of Mechelen-Brussels held a press conference on Friday and issued a statement in which he said the Church's first concern was for the victim and his "long Calvary," which still has not ended. He said he held the press conference because the Catholic Church in Belgium knows that transparency, "not silence or covering up" the matter, is needed for healing.