The former Bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, died on Wednesday at the age of 89, the Belgian Bishops’ Conference announced on Friday.
The funeral took place in the strictest privacy, the Conference added.
Bishop of Bruges since 1984, Roger Vangheluwe had resigned from his post in 2010 after admitting to sexually abusing his nephew, who was a minor at the time of the offences.
The offences had taken place both before and after his appointment as bishop. The Vatican had subsequently imposed a sanction on him: to leave Belgium and undergo therapy.
Pornographic images had also been found on his computer during a search in 2012.
This scandal led to ‘Operation Calice’, launched by the judicial authorities in 2010, involving high-profile searches of the Kingdom’s General Archives, the Bishop’s Palace in Mechelen, and Cardinal Danneels’ home and office. The aim was to shed light on sexual abuse within the Church.
The clergyman’s high-profile resignation also served as a wake-up call for the general public and triggered a flood of reports to the Adriaenssens Commission, tasked by the Church with gathering testimonies from the many victims of sexual abuse committed by priests or other religious leaders.
Roger Vangheluwe (R) during the visit of Pope John Paul II to the city of Ieper (Ypres) in 1985. Credit: Belga
In 2011, whilst in exile in France, he admitted, in a highly publicised interview with the Flemish television channel VT4, to having abused two of his cousins.
After writing a letter to Pope Francis in 2023, Roger Vangheluwe was finally defrocked in 2024 when the Pope decided to remove him from the clergy. Defrocking means that all ecclesiastical rights and duties are forfeited.
Since 2010, and in recent years, the octogenarian had been living in France, at Solesmes Abbey, where he remained in isolation.
Several complaints of sexual abuse have been lodged against Roger Vangheluwe. A letter written 17 years ago also details sexual abuse perpetrated by the former Bishop of Bruges against three-year-old twin girls, as reported earlier this year by the magazine Humo and the news website Apache. This discovery could have led to criminal proceedings against the clergyman, but his death will prevent this.
“The bishops are aware that this announcement may trigger a new wave of emotion amongst the victims. They acknowledge the lasting suffering caused by the sexual abuse committed within the Church and reaffirm their commitment to recognising and caring for the victims,” stated the Belgian Bishops’ Conference in its press release.
