Belgium’s prime minister has blasted Pope Francis for the Catholic Church’s horrific legacy of clerical sex abuse and cover-ups. He has demanded “concrete steps” to come clean with the past and put victims’ interests over those of the institution as he delivered blistering welcome Friday at the start of Francis’ visit. The speech by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo was one of the most pointed ever directed at the pope during one of his foreign trips. Usually, genteel dictates of diplomatic protocol keeps outrage out of the public speeches. De Croo’s tone underscored just how raw the abuse scandal still is in Belgium.
