VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis makes his first papal visit to Luxembourg and Belgium at the end of September to encourage the church in the two traditionally Catholic countries in the heart of Europe to be beacons of hope and dedicated to serving the common good.
His four-day trip Sept. 26-29 comes just two weeks after wrapping up a marathon 12-day journey to four Asian-Pacific nations and one day before the start of the monthlong second assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality.
For a pope who favors the peripheries, visiting Luxembourg and Belgium, two economically strong, constitutional monarchies, represents a rare shift in putting the spotlight on Europe.
The two nations are a kind of microcosm of the greater trends throughout Europe: increased secularization, growing anti-immigrant sentiments and the need for the church's evangelizing mission.
The main focus of his 46th foreign journey is on Belgium where he will help mark the 600th anniversary of the founding of the oldest Catholic university in the world, the Catholic University of Leuven.
In two separate meetings -- with professors at the Dutch-speaking KU Leuven, located in Leuven, and with students at the French-speaking UCLouvain in Louvain-la-Neuve -- he is expected to emphasize the importance of value-based education in society and to touch on social and environmental issues.
The stopover in Luxembourg, which is smaller than Rhode Island and has a population equivalent to the U.S. city of Boston, was added on later because of the pope's "very good relationship" with Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, who "played a role in the decision" to make the stop, Gérard Kieffer, head of communications for the Archdiocese of Luxembourg, told Catholic News Service.
Cardinal Hollerich is the country's first cardinal, a member of the pope's Council of Cardinals and plays a central role as relator general of the bishops' synod on synodality.
"The population of Luxembourg is made up of about 47% foreigners and 53% Luxembourgers," Kieffer said in an email response to questions Sept. 17.
"The fact that so many people from different backgrounds live together harmoniously certainly makes Luxembourg a very special place," he wrote, and "the coexistence of different religions is also a result of the constructive relationship-building that the Catholic Church has pursued over the last 50 years."
Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri is a practicing Catholic. And his refusal to sign a euthanasia bill adopted by parliament in 2008 further accelerated moves to separate church and state, which became official starting in 2015.
This separation meant the Catholic Church had to start "reflecting on the roots of its actual tasks," Kieffer wrote, even though "popular piety is still an important part" of the country's traditions.
During his eight-hour stay, the pope will have a chance to speak about issues related to the sanctity of human life with the country's leaders in public events and closed-door meetings. Euthanasia is legal in both Luxembourg and Belgium. Abortion also is legal in both countries as is same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.
The pope will head to Belgium the evening of Sept. 26 and follow a program that includes the traditional essentials: greeting top-level government officials, meeting with local Catholics, celebrating an open-air Mass and meeting privately with his fellow Jesuits.
While not appearing on the official schedule released by the Vatican July 19, CathoBel, the main Catholic news site in French-speaking Belgium, has reported the pope is expected to meet privately with more than a dozen victims of sexual abuse.
An independent inquiry report on abuse was published in 2010, and the country is still reeling from ongoing evidence of decades of abuse and cover-up by church officials. Roger Vangheluwe, former bishop of Bruges, resigned soon after the 2010 report, acknowledging he abused his nephew who was a minor at the time. Pope Francis laicized Vangheluwe in March 2024 after mounting public pressure.
One of the reasons the pope is going to Belgium is "precisely the fact that we talk about the abuses here, much more than in other countries," retired Bishop Lucas Van Looy of Ghent told CathoBel in an interview published Sept. 22.
Pope Francis had wanted to elevate Bishop Van Looy to the College of Cardinals in 2022, but he asked the pope to withdraw his nomination because he did not want to add to the suffering of survivors of clerical sexual abuse who criticized his appointment as a cardinal.
Father Eric de Beukelaer, vicar general of the Diocese of Liege, told reporters in Rome in May that the people of Belgium used to be so dedicated to the church that when they started to lose their faith, the church didn't know exactly what to do.
Religious belief is experiencing "a time of crisis," and the abuse scandals, which get news coverage nearly "every day," only made it worse, he said.
"It took three generations to lose (the faith); it will take three generations more to build something new," he said. The challenge is to create a sense of community with young people and families.
Of Belgium's nearly 12 million residents, 57% are Catholic, more than 5% are Protestant or members of other Christian denominations, 6.8% are Muslim, 9% are atheist and 20% are nonbeliever/agnostic, according to the CIA factbook.
The pope will visit Brussels, the capital, which serves as the capital of the European Union and the headquarters of NATO. However, Father de Beukelaer insisted the trip is very clearly "not a visit to the EU."
The trip's theme of "Forward with hope" reflects a recurring message of the pope, particularly for Europe with its many challenges, including low birth rates, an aging population, high youth unemployment and inadequate policies for handling and integrating large numbers of migrants and refugees.
The church's celebration of World Day of Migrants and Refugees and the feast of the Archangels Sept. 29 falls on the pope's last day in Belgium when he will celebrate Mass in the King Baudouin Stadium before heading back to Rome. Organizers said the 35,000 tickets were requested and distributed in less than two hours.
Thousands of young people have been invited to attend the Mass after wrapping up a major celebration for youth of all and no faiths Sept. 26-29 called "Hope Happening." Organizers hope to inspire young people to find a connection between their desire for social change and justice and a search for faith. It's an endeavor in harmony with Pope Francis' greater message of walking together in hope and joy to build a better world.
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