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	Leading Belgian Catholic Priest Francois Houtart Admits Sex Abuse of Cousin By Rory Watson The Australian December 30, 2010 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/leading-belgian-catholic-priest-francois-houtart-admits-sex-abuse-of-cousin/story-e6frg6so-1225978828921 ANOTHER scandal has hit the Catholic Church in Belgium after a priest being promoted as a candidate for next year's Nobel Peace Prize confessed to sexually abusing his eight-year-old cousin 40 years ago. Francois Houtart, 85, called the "pope of alternative globalisation" for helping developing countries, yesterday admitted the allegations made by one of his cousins. He also confirmed that he had asked the World Social Forum, an organisation of groups opposed to neo-liberalism, to stop its nomination campaign for the prize. Canon Houtart told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir that after a conference he had stayed the night with relatives near Liege. "While walking through the bedroom of one of the boys in the family, I effectively touched his private parts twice. This woke him up and frightened him. It was obviously an inconsiderate and irresponsible act," he said in a letter sent from the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, where he is living. Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. The credibility of Belgium's Catholic Church was damaged in April when the Bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, confessed to molesting a minor many years previously and resigned soon afterwards. It transpired that the victim was a nephew. Last week the former head of the Church in Belgium, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who had admitted trying to suppress the scandal, was questioned for four hours by MPs. He maintained that in more than thirty years he had found only seven such incidents involving priests. The revelations have prompted 475 complaints this year to a special committee on sexual abuse. Belgian bishops have taken the unusual step of apologising to the country's Catholic community for the Church's failure to respond adequately to the allegations. Just after Christmas Bishop Danneels's successor as Belgian Primate, Andre Leonard, devoted part of his sermon to the victims of sexual abuse. Among the allegations made against Canon Houtart was one by the sister of the boy who he had admitted touching. She noted that her father saw Canon Houtart, identified only as A, as a great man until that night when he "twice let himself into my brother's bedroom to rape him. Before the third time my brother told his parents, who kept him in their bedroom." The committee's report, which was published in September, did not identify Canon Houtart. However, when the campaign to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize gathered pace the sister of the cousin demanded that it be stopped. The World Social Forum support committee ended canvassing for backing him last month.
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