Belgian bishop says nephews' abuse was a 'game'
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Belgium's Catholic bishops declared themselves
"extremely shocked" on Friday (Apr. 15) by a former bishop who described
the sexual abuse of two young nephews as a "game" that did not involve
penetration or physical violence.
Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who resigned a year ago as bishop of Bruges
after admitting that he had sexually abused one of his young nephews,
told a Flemish-language television network on Thursday (April 14) that
he abused another nephew.
"I never had the impression of being a pedophile," Vangheluwe said,
speaking from a Catholic retreat in France where he has been sent for
treatment. "I never had the impression that my nephew was opposed (to
sexual contact), rather the contrary."
"It began as a game with the boy," Vangheluwe said of the abuse with
the first boy, which began when he was 5 and lasted for 13 years. "It
was never a question of rape, nor of physical violence. He never saw me
naked and there was never any penetration."
Vangheluwe resigned last April after his nephew, then 42, revealed
the abuse. Over the next few months, Belgians filed more than 500 claims
of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.
"I was never conscious that it had such an impact on my nephew,"
Vangheluwe said on Thursday. "I thought we were dealing with superficial
things."
Belgium's Catholic bishops' conference said in a statement on Friday
that the "tone of (Vangheluwe's) interview is in total contradiction to
the efforts undertaken in the last months to take seriously the problem
of sexual abuse."
Also on Friday, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See
Press Office, told reporters that the Vatican was "conscious of the
gravity" of the matter and was preparing to launch an "in-depth
evaluation."
Lombardi earlier had confirmed that Vangheluwe had been sent out of
Belgium for "spiritual and psychological counseling" while the Vatican
weighed his punishment, noting that "throughout this period he will
obviously be forbidden from publicly exercising his priestly or
episcopal functions."
