He is the new face of the Church in Belgium. At 55, Luc Terlinden, who became the archbishop of Malines-Brussels in June 2023, is welcoming Pope Francis to his diocese from September 26 to 29, 2024, culminating in a Mass on Sunday morning at the Roi-Baudoin stadium.
In an interview with I.MEDIA, he discusses this visit by the Argentine pontiff, almost 30 years after John Paul II’s last visit to the country in 1995.
(Interview edited for length and readability.)
Why the pope is visiting Belgium
Is this trip by Pope Francis to the center of Europe also a trip to a “periphery” of the Church, after all the trials and tribulations experienced by the Catholic Church in Belgium?
Archbishop Terlinden: The Pope comes here as a shepherd and as a friend. He has cultivated friendships with Belgians since his childhood in Argentina. He also came to Belgium in the 1970s, when he was provincial of the Jesuits, notably to thank patrons of the University of Namur who had supported the University of Cordoba. So he has a long-standing link with our country.
I don’t think there’s any specific strategy here, but it’s true that this visit is a great support for our Church in Belgium. And it’s not the first time he’s visited a country marked by both a strong Catholic tradition and strong secularization. He’s been to Canada, Ireland … He likes to go to places where the Catholic faith is being shaken up, where the Church no longer holds its dominant position.
Belgium’s relationship with the world
Belgian society has changed a great deal in recent decades, particularly with the arrival of many foreigners. Is this visit to Belgium by the first non-European pope of modern times also a visit to a multinational Church, rather than a national one?
Archbishop Terlinden: This international dimension is indeed part of the reality of our Church, especially in the big cities and in Brussels, which is a very cosmopolitan city. It reflects the Church all over the world. Some parishes have found a new lease on life thanks to the presence of Christians from other parts of the world.
By coming to meet this reality, the Pope wants to highlight the fraternity that we experience in our Church: people from very different cultures coming together around Christ.
On an ecclesial level, can the experience of the Church in Belgium, with its serious crises but also signs of renewal, enable it to bring a message to the universal Church?
Archbishop Terlinden: With the dramatic cases of abuse and the work the Belgian Church has been doing with victims for 25 years, our experience can help, along with the awareness that improvements can be made. Today, we have a better understanding of the reality of what it means for a person to suffer sexual abuse, and of the deep wounds it causes.
In other respects too, I think our Belgian experience can serve as a kind of “laboratory” for what might happen elsewhere. But we can’t “copy and paste” and transpose everything to other situations. For example, secularization as experienced in Belgium will not necessarily play out in the same way in Central Europe, Africa, or elsewhere in the world.
And even this concept of secularization needs to be nuanced with regard to Belgium. In reality, the religious phenomenon is still very present, but it finds expression in a plurality of ways. It’s a big mistake to believe that secularization is an irreversible and absolute fact.
Moreover, when political discourse tends to deny the social dimension of religion and relegate it to the margins or the purely private sphere, I believe this contributes to the rise of extremes and forms of radicalization.
So it’s in our interest to ensure that different religious convictions and traditions coexist as peacefully as possible. Not everything is perfect, and we don’t claim to be a model, but there are certainly positive experiences to which we can bear witness.
The sex abuse scandal’s effects in Belgium
The abuse scandals have revealed deep-seated wounds in families, in all sectors of society. How are priests themselves coping with the shock? Do they feel they’ve been put in the firing line, put under excessive or unfair pressure?
Archbishop Terlinden: I’d be more nuanced. In Belgium, the Church as an institution is sometimes mocked, bishops are criticized, but the figure of the priest remains respected.
On the question of abuse, it’s a good thing that we’re leaving behind the culture of silence and concealment. It’s painful to uncover these stories, but it’s for the greater good. And it’s important that victims of sexual violence in the Church can find safe places to express themselves. It shakes us, but we shouldn’t be afraid of it.
When I visit parishes, I see that the priests who are serving the faithful receive a great deal of support. I feel that the Church is united, not to deny the problem, but to bear it all together. I’m confident that we’ll be able to emerge from this crisis truer to ourselves, and closer to the Gospel.
The defense of human dignity is an essential axis of Pope Francis’ pontificate, and of the entire history of the Church. Faced with the problems of abuse and the social debates surrounding abortion and euthanasia, do you feel that there are strong expectations regarding the public expression of the Church’s voice in Belgium?
Archbishop Terlinden: It’s a question of consistency. We can’t reaffirm human dignity from the beginning to the end of life if we don’t commit ourselves concretely, for example, to spiritual and moral support, but also material support, for women who encounter difficulties during pregnancy, or to support for palliative care. We need to be prophetic, even if the Church today is just one voice among many.
Our public pronouncements often have little echo, little follow-through. But we must invest in concrete action, listening to the consciences and pains of our contemporaries, which I also felt as a priest.
And when it comes to migrants, we need to defuse fears by bearing witness to concrete fraternity, by making ourselves the mouthpiece for these stories and giving visibility to these faces. This would help reassure the Belgian population, which is in fact less worried than other societies about these migratory phenomena.
If we are content with words or grand principles, we are no longer audible. Of course, we need strong words, but we need witnesses more than orators.
Spiritual thirst in a secularized society
Before becoming bishop, you were heavily involved in youth ministry. Do you sense a strong expectation on the part of young people regarding the visit of Pope Francis?
Archbishop Terlinden: As part of this visit, we’re organizing a festival for young people, with several thousand participants expected. Over the last few years, the way the Holy Spirit has been working has amazed us. We see catechumens arriving in very unexpected ways, which are not programmed in pastoral plans! Young people are knocking at the door of our churches. We don’t really know how they arrive, but they’re there.
There’s clearly a great spiritual thirst, and a great openness. It’s a generation that often knows nothing about the Church and Christianity, but is very curious. Just as in France, in Belgium we’re seeing the arrival of young people in search of Christ, who are touched by Christ in astonishing ways, sometimes through a simple video seen on TikTok … The Lord surprises us! It’s very stimulating and gratifying. It’s a challenge to welcome them and accompany them over the long term, but it’s up to us to respond.
We’ll continue to be surprised not only by this generation, but by all generations. People of all ages can discover Christ and the Gospel, and express the desire to get involved.
And today we celebrate...