After 7:00 p.m., Pope Francis arrived at the Melsbroek air base in Brussels (Belgium) to complete the second stage of his apostolic trip to the center of Europe, the first part of which consisted of a one-day visit to the small country of Luxembourg.
The Holy Father will remain in Belgium until Sunday, September 29, and will hold meetings with King Philip of Belgium; the Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo; and with the other civil authorities.
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Likewise, as is customary on his apostolic trips, Pope Francis will meet with members of the clergy, religious and consecrated persons; in addition to a private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus in Belgium.
The program also includes meetings with teachers and students of the Catholic University of Leuven on September 27 and 28, respectively.
Finally, what would be the most important event will be the mass at the Rey Baldovino stadium, where the Carmelite Sister Ana de Jesús, spiritual daughter of Saint Teresa of Ávila and friend of Saint John of the Cross, will be beatified.
His time in Luxembourg
This Thursday the 26th, Pope Francis made a one-day visit to Luxembourg, the small European country of just over 660,000 inhabitants that borders Belgium, France and Germany.
In this duchy, the Pontiff held a meeting with local authorities and the Catholic community, to whom he reiterated his call to welcome migrants and refugees, and warned that “ideologies are always an enemy of democracy.”
He also indicated that wealth “is a responsibility” and therefore called for “constant vigilance to not neglect the most disadvantaged nations, in fact, to help them escape their conditions of impoverishment.”
Likewise, he encouraged the Catholic Church in Luxembourg not to withdraw into itself, but to accept the challenge, “in fidelity to the values of always, to rediscover and revalue in a new way the paths of evangelization, moving increasingly beyond a simple proposal of pastoral care to a proposal for missionary announcement.”
During the meeting with the Catholic community, Pope Francis also participated in the opening of the jubilee year for the four centuries of devotion to the Virgin in the invocation of Consolation of the afflicted, patron saint of the country.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Prensa I have been sent to cover Pope Francis’ trips to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synodality Synod in the Vatican in 2023.