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	More Sex Abuse Allegations Emerge after Belgian Cardinal’s Interrogation By Hilary White The LifeSite July 13, 2010 http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10071301.html BRUSSELS, July 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In the week following the deposition of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, allegations that he knew of and ignored decades of sexual abuse of young people by his priests have begun to appear in the Belgian papers. Police raided the offices of the Archdiocese of Brussels and Danneels’s home early this month. Shortly thereafter, on July 6, Danneels spent a gruelling ten hour day answering questions from Brussels prosecutors about the extent of his knowledge and involvement in the cover-up of sexual abuse by priests on his 27-year watch as head of the Brussels diocese and primate of the Belgian Catholic Church. Local news reports say that during the interrogation, Danneels denied all knowledge of sexual abuse by priests. But in the following week, reports have begun to surface from purported victims and their families who insist that Danneels had known for years of extensive clerical sex abuse among his priests. According to the Flemish press, Danneels was being questioned as a witness, not as a suspect. But later Jos Colpin, spokesman for the Brussels public prosecutor, said he would not rule out the possibility that Danneels would ultimately face charges. “[I]f this occurs,” he said, “in any case of this magnitude, it will take place at the end of the investigation.” If it is shown that Danneels knew about the abuse of minors while it was still occurring, he could be charged with gross negligence for failing to give “appropriate assistance” to someone who was in immediate and imminent danger. The raids and the questioning of the popular Danneels has created a frenzy in the Belgian press. In the days following the raids, the Belgian news service Het Laatste Nieuws reported that photographs pertaining to the notorious Dutroux pedophile/murder case were found among the material seized by police. On July 7, the Belgian bishops conference confirmed that the documents had been found in the archbishop's house in Mechelen but said that they had been delivered to the new archbishop of Brussels, Andre Leonard, by an un-named “third party well known to the media and the Archdiocese.” Peter Adriaenssens, the chairman of the now dissolved Church commission on sex abuse, was questioned on the same day as Danneels. He has admitted that of the 475 case files the commission received, 50 implicate the cardinal in knowledge of clerical sex abuse. On July 9, the daily Le Soir revealed the story of a priest who says he was abused by a priest since his days as an altar boy, and then “coldly” abandoned by the Church. The priest, who was not named and is now in his 40s, told Le Soir that his godmother wrote to Cardinal Danneels about the abuse but received only a form letter response from a secretary. At the same time, officials are investigating further complaints against the former bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, a close friend of Danneels, who resigned in April after admitting to having sexually abused his own nephew for years. Attorney Jean-Marie Berkvens told media on Friday, “We are investigating whether the former bishop can be prosecuted for ignoring years of complaints about sexual abuse in his diocese. The name of Cardinal Danneels also comes up.” Jean Marc Meilleur of the Brussels Prosecutors Office told media that the raids had been carried out after new allegations of sex abuse and cover-ups had been forwarded to officials. The extraordinary nature of the searches, during which police drilled holes into the tombs of deceased former bishops, indicates that police expected that Church officials had attempted to hide evidence. Danneels, who was once called the “incarnation” of the Belgian Catholic Church by the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, is said to be “in shock” by this investigation. During his time in office, he gained immense popularity among the elites of Brussels, the EU and the media by publicly opposing and questioning Catholic teaching on sexual issues including homosexuality and contraception.
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