Pope Francis sought to encourage and reinvigorate the Catholic Church in Belgium, which has been disheartened by the abuse crisis.

The prime minister’s speech at the start of Pope Francis’ visit was one of the most pointed ever directed at the pope during a foreign trip and underscored just how raw the abuse scandal still is in Belgium.

During a brief visit to Luxembourg, Pope Francis recalled the nation's painful history and lauded its welcome to immigrants, encouraging its people "to be faithful to this legacy."

Pope Francis is expected to speak about war and peace, the migrant crisis, ecology, secularization and the sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

A snippet from some impromptu remarks caused a stir, but the pope’s point was that all religions are ways of communicating with God, not that they are all “the same.”

Pope Francis, who has called for the liberation of Aung San Suu Kyi, the former leader of Myanmar and Nobel Peace Prize winner, told Jesuits in Asia that he even had offered to give her refuge at the Vatican.