Pope Francis will meet European Council President Charles Michel in private during the pontiff’s visit to Belgium this week, Euractiv has learned.
The pope is visiting Belgium and Luxembourg from Thursday (26 September) until Sunday (29 September). Michel – who previously served as prime minister of Belgium – will meet the pope during the official visit, EU and Church sources confirmed.
The office of the Papal Nuncio to Belgium and Luxembourg declined to give further details – such as where and when the meeting will take place – saying that the meeting will be private.
Michel and Francis previously met in the Vatican in 2021.
Michel is due to step down as European Council president at the end of November, and will be succeeded by António Costa, the former prime minister of Portugal. The Council president is responsible for chairing negotiations among EU national leaders.
Francis – born Jorge Bergoglio in Argentina – is the first non-European pope for over a millenium. The last was Gregory III, who was from Syria and died in 741.
He is due to arrive in Belgium on Thursday evening, following a visit to neighbouring Luxembourg.
He will conclude the trip with a mass at King Baudouin stadium in Brussels, which is named after the Belgian king who reigned from 1951 until his death in 1993. When the Belgian parliament voted to legalise abortion in 1990, Baudouin asked the legislature to declare him temporarily unable to reign so that he would not have to sign the bill – which went against his strongly Catholic convictions – and to avert a constitutional crisis.
The last papal visit to Belgium was in 1995, when Pope John Paul II visited the country. However, Francis addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, in 2014.
The Pope will not meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is travelling over the weekend, a Commission spokesperson told Euractiv.
[Edited by Owen Morgan]
Source: euractiv.com
