Belgium PM summons Vatican envoy over pope’s abortion remarks

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to Belgium, Franco Coppola, on Thursday after “unacceptable” comments by Pope Frances on abortion.

Earlier that day, the Free University of Brussels (VUB) had urged the Belgian government to call the Vatican to account over statements by the pope comparing doctors who perform abortions to hitmen.

“An abortion is a murder. Doctors who do that are — allow me to use that word — contract killers,” Pope Francis told journalists on his flight returning to Rome on Sunday following his visit to Belgium, which was overshadowed by the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.

“It is absolutely unacceptable for a foreign head of state to make such statements about democratic decision-making in our country,” De Croo said during a session in the Chamber of Representatives. “We do not need lessons on how our parliamentarians democratically approve laws. Fortunately, the time when the church dictated laws in our country is long gone.”

In an opinion piece for Belgian newspaper De Standaard, VUB Rector Jan Danckaert said the pope’s statement “not only insults the doctors who perform abortions, but also Belgium and its population.”

“It is actually unheard of that a foreign head of state — because that is what Pope Francis is — assumes the right to attack a law of another and moreover democratic country. And to accuse the doctors who apply this law in practice of murder,” Danckaert wrote.

While the pope’s position on abortion is not surprising and he has used the same exact words before, his remarks come at a sensitive time for Belgium.

The Belgian parliament last week decided to freeze a long-debated bill that would expand abortion access from 12 weeks to 18 weeks of pregnancy. Bart De Wever, the Flemish nationalist politician tasked with forming the federal coalition government, said in a statement that this is to “guarantee the serenity of the negotiations” as the parties he is trying to include in the Cabinet are divided on the issue.

Outgoing Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden expressed outrage earlier this week, calling the comments “unnecessarily hurtful to women and care providers.”

Abortion in Belgium has been legal since 1990 after the deeply Catholic King Baudouin abdicated for a day to allow the abortion law to go through.

During his visit to Belgium last week, the pope visited King Baudouin’s tomb and praised his decision to not sign a “murderous law.” The pontiff also announced that he had started the beatification process for King Baudouin on Sept. 29.

This story has been updated.