BRUSSELS (OSV News) — Numerous volunteers and professionals are doing everything in their power to make Pope Francis’ visit to Belgium go smoothly but one thought prevails: You only get this chance once in your lifetime Bram Slegers does not know exactly how it happened the 18-year-old will soon be taking part in a papal Mass as an altar server at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels Sept “I received an email saying I had to go to Koekelberg because I was allowed to serve with the pope We were told we were chosen,” he said Each diocese is sending a few young people The choice of Slegers was not difficult for the Diocese of Antwerp: He is an acolyte in no less than 12 churches in Mol and Balen “I said yes because this is a unique opportunity,” he said He also saw it as a sign as he has had a calling to be a priest for some time otherwise I wouldn’t have received that email,” Slegers said “I experience this as something God has given me,” he said “He has given me a priestly vocation which is already in full swing; with everything that happens Pope Francis arrives in Luxembourg the morning of Sept departing for Rome after the Mass and a noon farewell ceremony The papal trip to Belgium required months of preparations on all fronts The miter and choir mantel that Pope Francis will wear during the celebration in the stadium has been designed and sewed by an Arte Grossé studio in Bruges “It is the highest recognition you can get.” The Bruges company specializes in liturgical robes and has in the past provided clothing for several major ecclesiastical events but for the first time the studio is now also allowed to vest Pope Francis When they were assigned to the task by Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels “We had to make a design that had to be approved our first design for the miter was found too busy.” The choice ultimately was a design inspired by a chasuble that the company had previously made for Archbishop Terlinden “We came up with the idea of just making a simple cross where all the colors of the chasuble are incorporated That was approved and that is how we worked it out,” explained Verhelst “It’s a design with cheerful colors.” the studio also is supplying other pieces of clothing and items for Mass — all of which had to be ready in a month and a half also because of the time pressure,” said Verhelst But she thought that it was absolutely worth it “I am very proud that so many people will see our clothes,” she said will also have a role to play and will act as an interpreter during the meeting between the pope and ecclesiastical representatives in Koekelberg at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart Sept She was commissioned through her work as an interpreter at the European Parliament “My Protestant colleague there was asked to act as an interpreter during that meeting and to find someone else for it He said: ‘I just want a righteous Catholic You don’t get a second chance,” she said “I myself also have a great admiration for Pope Francis for his humility and the way in which he slowly but surely gets much-needed reforms through such as making the Roman Curia less powerful and the church less clerical.” The papal trip to the center of Europe also takes some veterans when it comes to organizing big church events and Patrick du Bois is one of them The 70-year-old was involved in organizing church events for almost two decades “It is a service I provide to the church I also have the highest admiration for Pope Francis’ message and how he tries to reach a wide audience the pope is trying to reach as many people as possible,” Du Bois said He is helping with the pope’s visit organization and logistics very precise security measures must be taken,” he said The papal visit is also of much larger size than the events that Du Bois has previously organized there are 260 journalists to be accredited.” Although he has been retired since last year Du Bois spent 12 hours a day this spring organizing the apostolic visit He indicated that he was looking forward “a little” to “the moment that the event is behind us,” but above all he hoped to make the papal visit a success “I look back with satisfaction when I see happy people who have experienced the pope’s visit positively,” he stressed His reward at the end would be “if all those people have also received new impetus and new enthusiasm for faith and Christian values,” he said “That is our hope that people will become more positive about the church,” Du Bois added “The image is now very negative: In Flanders a lot of attention has been paid to abuse problems but the message of Jesus Christ to people can reach a wide audience again.” This story was originally posted at www.kn.nl  Print Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media Catholic Media Assocation Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association The Associated Church Press Press release from the Mediterranean Equestrian Tour  The CSI3* 1.50m Grand Prix presented by Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Resort concluded the second week of Autumn MET I 2023 at Centro Ecuestre Oliva Nova in Oliva on Sunday and it was Belgium’s Yves Vanderhasselt and the 10-year-old mare Nikita van de Koekelberg (Loro Piana Filou de Muze x VDL Cardento bred by Guy Ganseman and owned by Luc Vermeir) that took the top honours With a time of 36.14 seconds in the jump-off, Vanderhasselt and Nikita van de Koekelberg bested a field of 56 horse-and-rider-combinations at start – eleven of which cleared Louis Konickx’s (NED) first-round track.  “The course today was tough but fair,” Vanderhasselt said after his victory My plan going into the jump-off was to be as fast as possible without making any faults I saw Oliver’s round and I thought I could never beat his time but I never expected to be faster than him I think I made the winning difference in my approach to the last fence.” “She is a granddaughter of Fleuri van de Koekelberg who jumped big classes with Dirk Demeersman,” Vanderhasselt said about his horse Nikita van de Koekelberg and now she is winning a three-star Grand Prix but she is a bit sensitive and needs a lot of confidence from her rider." “I was here for the first time five years ago,” Vanderhasselt said about the venue in Oliva Nova so I thought instead of starting indoors I would try and make the summer a bit longer so I came here for two weeks to prepare for next season.”  Just like in last week’s CSI2* Grand Prix, Oliver Lazarus (RSA) and Conbalthago PS (Contendros 2 x Baloubet du Rouet bred by Gestüt Lewitz and owned by Team Equest Pty Lim.) finished in the runner-up spot after the clock stopped on 36.53. Nano Healy (IRL) and Oak Grove's Clown FRH (Cascadello x Balou du Rouet Van Wijlick and owned by Gestüt Eichenhain Gmbh) placed third in 37.59 while Joseph Clayton (GBR) and Commissaire S (Comme Il Faut 5 x Polydor bred by Julius Peter Sinnak and owned by Unex Competiton Yard) finished fourth in 37.96 followed by Hessel Hoekstra (NED) and VDL Helena Van Perbeemd (Eldorado vd Zeshoek x VDL Cardento Vermeiren and owned by the VDL Stud) in fifth after clocking the fastest time of the afternoon – 35.70 – but on the cost of a fence down.  The third and last week of Autumn MET I 2023 runs until October 22nd followed by MET II from October 31st to November 19th which runs from November 28th to December 17th © 2025 World of Showjumping - All rights reserved Powered by Artionet - Generated with IceCube2.Net Tribute is part of ‘feminisation’ of public places in city A square in Brussels will be named after the Brontë sisters the first tribute of its kind in the Belgian capital more than 178 years after Charlotte and Emily arrived in the city to study French Councillors in the north-west district of Koekelberg voted to name a square “Place des Sœurs Brontë” in French as part of a wider plan for the “feminisation” of public places The local authority found that the vast majority of its streets and squares named after a person commemorated men The resolution in favour of renaming the square describes the three sisters – including Anne Brontë who never went to Brussels – as “models of emancipation” “It is for us a tribute to the literary talents of the Brontë sisters and an honour for the commune of Koekelberg to commemorate the presences of two of the three sisters in our municipality,” said Ahmed Laaouej The square is being redeveloped – it has recently been pedestrianised – and is home to the local Dutch-language cultural centre and library The new name is expected to be made official in early 2021 as part of a street renaming programme Charlotte and Emily Brontë arrived in Brussels in February 1842, aged 25 and 23. It was their first and only trip abroad. The sisters hoped that improving their languages would help them open a boarding school at their home of Haworth Parsonage – a plan that never came to pass as they turned to writing novels such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights In a letter before her arrival, Charlotte Brontë described Brussels as her “promised land” and said that in half a year she hoped to acquire “a thorough familiarity with French … greatly improve in Italian and even get a dash of German.” The sisters lived in the city centre but visited Koekelberg to see their Yorkshire friends Mary and Martha Taylor who studied at the Château de Koekelberg school a pricier establishment beyond the means of the Brontë sisters When the Brontë sisters would meet the Taylors in a park 100 metres from the site of the new square Now it is an urban landscape better known for the vast art-deco Sacred Heart basilica that looms over the Brussels skyline Martha died of cholera in 1842 and Charlotte would later visit her grave in a local Protestant cemetery during long, solitary walks. By 1843, Emily had left Brussels for good and Charlotte, lonely and depressed, struggled with her obsessive unrequited love for her married French teacher later thinly disguised as the hot-tempered M Paul Emanuel in Villette the founder of the Brussels Brontë Society and author of The Brontës in Brussels said the naming of the square was great news “It’s going to be a very important point in Koekelberg so even though we haven’t got a street bang in the centre of Brussels I think we can all be absolutely delighted.” For now, the only trace of the Brontës’ stay in Brussels is a tiny plaque on the Bozar cultural centre, built close to the school – now long-since demolished – where Charlotte and Emily Brontë once lived and worked The plaque was erected by the Brontë Society in 1979 but until now Brussels has never recognised the English novelists on city walls or street names You will also start receiving the Star's free morning newsletter Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with bishops and religious people in Koekelberg Basilica of the Sacred Heart Pope Francis attends a meeting with bishops Faithful gather in the Koekelberg Basilica of the Sacred Heart during the meeting of Pope Francis with bishops Pope Francis arrives at a meeting with bishops Nuns attend a meeting of Pope Francis with bishops A priest waits attends meeting of Pope Francis with bishops Pope Francis have a breakfast together with people who are experiencing homelessness and are assisted by the parish church of St BRUSSELS (AP) — Pope Francis’ burdensome trip through Belgium reached new lows on Saturday when defiant Catholic university women demanded to his face a “paradigm change” on women’s issues in the church and then expressed deep disappointment when Francis dug in the Francophone campus of Belgium’s storied Catholic university issued a scathing statement after Francis visited and repeated his view that women are the “fertile” nurturers of the church “UCLouvain expresses its incomprehension and disapproval of the position expressed by Pope Francis regarding the role of women in the church and society,” the statement said calling the pope’s views “deterministic and reductive.” Francis’ visit to Belgium has been dominated by the abuse scandal with King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo both blasting the Catholic Church’s dreadful legacy of priests raping and molesting children and its decades-long cover-up of the crimes Francis’ trip to Belgium, ostensibly to celebrate the university’s 600th anniversary, was always going to be difficult, given Belgium’s wretched legacy of clerical sexual abuse and secular trends which have emptied churches in the once staunchly Catholic country Francis got an earful on Friday about the abuse crisis starting with King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander Croos and continuing on down to the victims themselves But it’s one thing for the pope to be lambasted by the liberal prime minister for the church’s mishandling of priests who raped children It’s quite another to be openly criticized by the Catholic university that invited him and long was the Vatican’s intellectual fiefdom in Belgium The students made an impassioned plea to Francis for the church to change its view of women It is an issue Francis knows well: He has made some changes during his 11-year pontificate appointing several women to high-ranking positions in the Vatican and saying women must have greater decision-making roles in the church But he has ruled out ordaining women as priests and has refused so far to budge on demands to allow women to serve as deacons, who perform many of the same tasks as priests. He has taken the women’s issue off the table for debate at the Vatican’s upcoming three-week synod because it’s too thorny to be dealt with in such a short time He has punted it to theologians and canonists to chew over into next year Pope Francis made a surprise night-time visit to the Hope Happening a festival of Catholic youth in Brussels on Saturday In a letter read aloud on stage with the pope listening attentively the students noted that Francis’ landmark 2015 environmental encyclical Laudato Si (Praised Be) made virtually no mention of women cited no woman theologians and “exalts their maternal role and forbids them access to ordained ministries.” women have also been invisible in their intellectual contributions,” the students said is the place of women in the church?” they asked which can and must draw on the treasures of spirituality as much as on the development of the various disciplines of science.” but repeated his frequent refrain that “the church is woman,” only exists because the Virgin Mary agreed to be the mother of Jesus and that men and women were complementary “Let us be more attentive to the many daily expressions of this love from studies to the exercise of responsibility in the church and society from virginity to the service of others and the building up of the kingdom of God.” Louvain said such terminology had no place in a university or society today It emphasized the point with the entertainment for the event featuring a jazz rendition of Lady Gaga’s LGBTQ+ anthem “Born This Way.” “UC Louvain can only express its disagreement with this deterministic and reductive position,” the statement said “It reaffirms its desire for everyone to flourish within it and in society It calls on the church to follow the same path The comment followed a speech on Friday by the rector of the Dutch campus of the university in which he ventured that the church would be a much more welcoming place if women could be priests The university’s back-to-back criticism was especially significant since Francis was long held up in Europe as a beacon of progressive hope following the conservative papacies of St And yet Francis toed the conservative line earlier in the day too He went to the royal crypt in the Church of Our Lady to pray at the tomb of King Baudouin best known for having refused to give royal assent to a parliament-approved bill legalizing abortion Baudouin stepped down for one day in 1990 to allow the government to pass the law which he would otherwise have been required to sign Francis praised Baudouin’s courage when he decided to “leave his position as king to not sign a homicidal law,” according to the Vatican summary of the private encounter which was attended by Baudouin’s nephew The pope then referred to a new legislative proposal to extend the legal limit for an abortion in Belgium from 12 weeks to 18 weeks after conception The bill failed at the last minute because parties in government negotiations considered the timing inopportune Francis urged Belgians to look to Baudouin’s example in preventing such a law and added that he hoped the former king’s beatification cause would move ahead a 22-year-old international relations masters student at Louvain told reporters that students had hoped that Francis might respond positively to their appeal but that his comments on abortion and women’s role meant that he had “given up on a committed dialogue.” even if we saw that he disappointed us in just a few hours,” she said “His position on abortion — by saying that the abortion law was a murderous law — it is extremely shocking to see even if we did not expect great moves toward modernity.” Francis started the day by having breakfast — coffee and croissants — with a group of 10 homeless people and migrants who are looked after by the St The breakfast encounter was presided over by Marie-Françoise Boveroulle, an adjunct episcopal vicar for the diocese. The position is usually filled by a priest, but Boveroulle’s appointment has been highlighted as evidence of the roles that women can and should play in the church Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in. Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account. 32-year-old David Nas was ordained as a priest at Koekelberg's Roman Catholic basilica on Saturday afternoon. David is a former car assembly worker, but perhaps more surprisingly he is the also the married father of three children. It is the first time in the 465 year history of the archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels that a married man has been ordained as a priest by the archdiocese. But how can a married man with three children be ordained as a priest at the Roman Catholic basilica? What about the church’s celibacy rules? Fortunately, David Nas, who hails from Sint-Katelijne-Waver (Antwerp Province), can explain. "I am the first married man to be ordained as a priest in the archdiocese. I am a member of the Chaldean Church that is part of the Roman Catholic Church, but that follows the rites of the eastern church." The Chaldean Church has its own organisation.  Celibacy is not an obligation. Priests may marry and may have children. David Nas has no fewer than three children - a boy aged 7, and two girls aged 4 and 2. "My little son already says, 'Daddy, I want to be a priest too,'" he explains. "I am not opposed to celibacy” David continues. “I am in favour of choice. I am convinced that today’s bishops and church leaders are also thinking in this direction and that celibacy will eventually become a choice as well". by Sarah Jeong and how user data must be deleted at the user’s request “Facebook has committed to abiding by [the GDPR] in Europe and you face large penalties if they don’t,” said Rep “In recent days you’ve said that Facebook intends to make the same settings available to users everywhere Did I understand correctly that Facebook would not only make the same settings available but that it will make the same protections available that they will make the Europeans?” When Zuckerberg replied that “all the same controls” will be available “And you commit today that Facebook will extend the same protections to Americans that Europeans will receive under the GDPR?” Zuckerberg again equivocated about the GDPR “Is your response that exactly the protections that are guaranteed not just the controls but all the rights required under the General Data Protection Regulations will be applied to Americans as well?” Zuckerberg began to describe the privacy controls they were adding the GDPR has a bunch of different important pieces One is offering controls over — that we’re doing The second is around pushing for affirmative consent and putting a control in front of people that walks people through their choices We’re going to put a tool at the top of people’s apps that walks them through their settings — ” “It sounds like it will not be exact.” She ran out of time before she could press him any further In yesterday’s hearing before the Senate, Zuckerberg was similarly ambiguous about whether this would be the case, possibly because his crib sheet (photographed yesterday by the AP), says in bolded text, “GDPR (Don’t say we already do what the GDPR requires).” It’s not known whether Facebook is in GDPR compliance at the moment. The new rules go into effect on May 25th. During his weekly audience at St Peter's Square Pope Francis has confirmed that he still plans to visit Belgium he had cancelled his audiences due to mild flu symptoms The Pope is due to arrive in Belgium tomorrow and remain here until Sunday 29 September During his stay he will visit Leuven (Flemish Brabant) the National Basilica in Koekelberg (Brussels) and celebrate mass at the King Boudewijn Stadium in Brussels Pope Francis held his weekly audience at St Peter's Square in Rome on Wednesday morning On Monday and Tuesday he had cancelled his appointments due to mild flu symptoms There were fears illness would prevent the 87-year-old Pontiff from visiting Belgium The Vatican has not yet released details about the Pope's current state of health Pope Francis appeared to be in good health during Wednesday morning’s audience he did occasionally have to cough while speaking The Pope has been struggling with health issues and has also been using a wheelchair Pope Francis expressed his intention to travel to Belgium on Thursday He also asked for prayers to ensure that his visit here will be a success The trip to Belgium and Luxembourg will be his 46th foreign trip as Pope Mayors and city councillors from all over Europe signed a declaration to make cycling a fully fledged mode of transport for all Paul Balban attended last week's Velo-city world cycling summit in Leipzig which centred around the theme ‘Leading the Transition’ Mr Balban says the conference is a unique one where the bicycle is seen as alternative means of moving within cities and explores how best to create the necessary infrastructure to promote its uptake The signatories to the Declaration ‘make cycling a fully-fledged mode of transport for all’ were: Minister for Transport, Gibraltar  Sitemap Website design by Piranha Designs