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Another year has passed. Another boring review of the year, although such a review doesn't necessarily have to be boring. Especially when it's about something like the Pope and his eight-hour stopover in Luxembourg. Pascal Steinwachs is still a bit miffed.
First of all, a confession: we are not yet old enough to spend our Sunday evenings in front of the television, but every now and then, when there is nothing else on, we do like to watch the crime series. This was the case a fortnight ago, when the crime series was about the real crimes of paedophilia in the Catholic Church and the inspector on duty suddenly found himself investigating a huge organisation: "Extremely tightly run, sealed off from the outside world and only following its own rules", whereupon a colleague on the phone who was not present wants to know if he is now talking about the mafia.
When we saw this, we immediately thought of the Pope's trip to Luxembourg. It may have been ultra-short, but it was quite something. Anyone expecting Francis to address the cases of abuse within the Church, which of course also took place in this country, was left bitterly disappointed. The pontiff did not say a word about this in Luxembourg.
Instead, in his official speech at the Cercle Cité, which was attended by the upper ecclesiastics and the very devout Grand Ducal family as well as the probably not so devout notables from politics and society, he bluntly called on Luxembourgers to please have more children: "We need more children. They are our future. In Italy, I always say: fewer puppies, more children. Here I just say more children."
And how did those present react? Not at all! Apart from a few courageous feminists who criticised the Pope's statement afterwards, there was yawning silence, but the separation of church and state, which was already implemented in this country in 2018, has still not been fully accepted anyway, otherwise Francis would hardly have been treated as if he were actually a representative of God, whoever that is, during his eight-hour stopover in the capital.
"The Pope, our Cardinal and the whole club – they really never learn …"
However, we were downright shocked by an interview that Cardinal Hollerich, Luxembourg's highest churchman, gave to a daily newspaper in the run-up to the Pope's visit. When asked why, in connection with the US elections, the Pope had said that people should vote for the lesser of two evils and what was wrong with Kamala Harris, Hollerich replied that it was about the abortion issue. "I'm not saying that women should be penalised. I can understand if someone makes the wrong decision, but it remains the wrong decision. The decision is always in favour of life and I find it barbaric how we treat unborn life." And then the Luxembourg cardinal is also asked whether he would accept exceptions in the case of rape and incest: "No. I am always in favour of life. I am always in favour of life. Even if I understand that the state cannot tell a woman what to do."
We are still at a loss for words!
Directly after Luxembourg, the Holy Father travelled on to Belgium, where the authorities were not all as awestruck as they were in Luxembourg. Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo even demanded that Francis take concrete steps to deal with sexual abuse in the Catholic Church – words would not suffice here. And even the King was not too shy to address the subject of abuse.
The following day, the Pope also caused outrage during his speech at the Catholic University of Leuven, in which he addressed the position of women in the church and in society and expressed the opinion that femininity stands for "fruitful reception, care and life-giving devotion", whereupon the university immediately distanced itself from Francis. That's a good thing!
Fewer puppies, more children … The Pope, our Cardinal and the whole organisation – they really never learn …
