BRUSSELS – Pope Francis closed his visit to Belgium on Sunday with the beatification of Spanish nun and missionary Anne of Jesus, telling Catholics in the country to be sources of charity rather than scandal.
Yet the Pontiff couldn’t escape continuing signs of discontent among some Belgian Catholics, including scattered protests at his Mass over the exclusion of women from the priesthood.
Speaking from the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, the Pope said that in the day’s Scripture readings, which warn that it would be better for those who cause scandal to be tossed into the sea with stones around their feet, “Jesus warns of the danger of scandal, that is, of hindering the path of the ‘little ones’”.
