By MARICEL DIAZ The Travelling Burger His Holiness Pope Francis recently visited the European capital Belgium for the first time and marked his 46th international apostolic trip abroad. The last time Belgium hosted a papal visit was 29 years ago in 1995, when Pope John Paul II made his apostolic visit. Although it was rainy when he arrived, Pope Francis was visibly in good spirits and in a cheerful mood during the brief welcome ceremony at Melsbroek Airbase. While his visit focused on the 600th anniversary of the founding of KU Leuven – Belgium’s oldest Catholic university, he also tackled other difficult topics related to local communities, including sexual abuse within the church, abortion, refugees, boosting the declining flock, and more. The second day was a fully packed schedule for Pope Francis. In the morning, he paid a courtesy call to King Filip and Queen Mathilde, followed by a brief visit to King Baudouin’s tomb. He then proceeded to a formal meeting with the country’s political and state leaders, King Filip and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. Both addressed the church’s responsibility on the issue of sexual abuse by the church leaders. His Holiness answered with his own strong words, stating that “the Church must be ashamed, ask for pardon and try to solve this situation with Christian humility and by putting in all measures necessary to ensure that it does not happen again”. In the afternoon, he visited the KU Leuven to take part to the special celebration of the university’s 600th founding anniversary. He gave his speech, giving his praises to the university for the space it creates for ideas, cultures and the search for truth in the service of humanity, as well as for its efforts for refugees. After the academic session with...... Read more on Full Issue!