Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has called for the laicization of Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who resigned in 2010 after acknowledging the sexual abuse of his nephews.
De Croo reportedly made his request through Archbishop Franco Coppola, the apostolic nuncio to Belgium.
Twelve years earlier another Belgian leader, acting premier Yves Leterme, had urged the Vatican to take strong disciplinary action against Bishop Vangheluwe, after the bishop, following his resignation, gave a television interview in which he downplayed the significance of his abuse.
Last year Bishop Johann Bonny of Antwerp, the president of the Belgian bishops’ conference, questioned the Vatican’s reluctance to laicize the disgraced prelate.
“I want to honestly say that our conference of bishops has been asking Rome to do this for years,” he said.