Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Bishop Lucas Van Looy of Ghent, Belgium, was among 21 new cardinals named by Pope Francis on May 29, 2022. Bishop Van Looy is pictured in a Oct. 14, 2015 photo. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)Bishop Lucas Van Looy of Ghent, Belgium, was among 21 new cardinals named by Pope Francis on May 29, 2022. Bishop Van Looy is pictured in a Oct. 14, 2015 photo. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Saying he did not want to add to the suffering of survivors of clerical sexual abuse who criticized his appointment as a cardinal, retired Bishop Lucas Van Looy of Ghent, Belgium, asked Pope Francis to withdraw his nomination, and the pope agreed.

The Belgian bishops’ conference issued a statement June 16 announcing the decision and thanking Bishop Van Looy for making the request.

Pope Francis’ announcement May 29 that Bishop Van Looy would be among the 21 cardinals he intended to create Aug. 27, the statement said, “provoked many positive reactions, but also criticism that (Bishop Van Looy) had not always reacted vigorously enough as bishop of Ghent” when presented with allegations of clerical sexual abuse and other forms of abuse in the church.

“To prevent victims of such abuses from being hurt again as a result of his cardinalate, Bishop Van Looy asked the pope to dispense with the acceptance of this appointment. Pope Francis accepted his request,” the bishops said.

“To prevent victims of such abuses from being hurt again as a result of his cardinalate, Bishop Van Looy asked the pope to dispense with the acceptance of this appointment. Pope Francis accepted his request,” the bishops said.

“Cardinal (Jozef) De Kesel, (president of the conference), and the Belgian bishops appreciate the decision of Bishop Van Looy. They reiterate their commitment to continue their fight against all forms of abuse in the Catholic Church, in which the interests of the victims and their families always come first,” the statement said.

Bishop Van Looy is the first cardinal-designate named by Pope Francis to publicly request that he not be named to the College of Cardinals.

It is possible, even likely, that other prelates have made similar requests of other popes, but without the public knowing. Before Pope Francis, popes usually informed churchmen of a planned announcement several days beforehand.

Bishop Van Looy, 80, led the Diocese of Ghent from 2003 to 2019. He had spent a dozen years in South Korea as a Salesian missionary and almost 20 years in Rome as a member of the Salesian order’s leadership team before being named bishop of Ghent by St. John Paul II.

The latest from america

Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool, during the pope's meeting with members of the media May 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo offered a heartening message for a global media that has endured a pretty awful year.
Kevin ClarkeMay 23, 2025
If you think our enthusiasm for our basketball team was intense, just wait until you see our support for Pope Leo XIV.
Jack DoolinMay 23, 2025
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man who sends coded messages,” Cardinal Michael Czerny says in this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell.
Gerard O’ConnellMay 23, 2025
First-grade students finish an assignment at St. Ambrose Catholic School in Tucson, Ariz., in this 2014 photo. Arizona has one of the nation’s strongest school choice programs, with vouchers available to every child in the state. (CNS file photo/Nancy Wiechec)
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying state funds to a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. What should American Catholics be asking about public funding for school choice?
Beth BlaufussMay 23, 2025