Monsters and Critics
June 24, 2010
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1566026.php/Police-raid-home-of-ex-Belgian-Archbishop-in-child-abuse-probe
Brussels - Police investigating cases of sexual abuse on minors raided Thursday the home of the former head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, a spokesman for the prelate said.
Danneels, 77, stepped down as Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and head of Belgium's bishop conference in January, after serving in that position for 31 years.
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The cardinal was not questioned, but his computer was seized by police, spokesman Hans Geybels told the Belgian news agency Belga.
Investigators also searched Danneels' former office in the Mechelen Archbishopric and the headquarters of the committee set up by the Belgian Catholic Church to investigate allegations of child abuse.
Raids were carried out on behalf of public prosecutors in Brussels.
'The prosecution has recently received a number of accusations of child abuse committed by churchmen,' spokesman Jean-Marc Meilleur said, adding that the searches had been ordered to 'verify these accusations.'
In recent months the Vatican has been rocked by a slew of scandals related to paedophilia, as revelations of sexual abuse committed by priests on minors emerged in the Unites States, Ireland, Austria and Germany, as well as in Belgium.
In April Roger Vangheluwe, bishop of the Belgian city of Bruges for 25 years, was forced to resign after admitting to sexually abusing a boy earlier in his career.
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