Relationship dossier
Vatican City
Belgium
Relationship assessment
Diplomatic engagement and papal visits coexist with disagreement over the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse.
Vatican City toward Belgium
+20Pope Francis made an official visit to Belgium in September 2024 and met Belgian leaders. During the visit, the Holy See faced public criticism from Prime Minister Alexander De Croo over the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse.
Belgium toward Vatican City
+20Belgian leaders received Pope Francis during his official visit in September 2024. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo used the occasion to call for concrete action by the Catholic Church on sexual abuse.
Overall relationship
+20Official papal engagement and meetings with Belgian leaders provide a basis for cooperation, while Belgium’s public demands for action on sexual abuse reveal a significant disagreement. The bilateral relationship combines diplomatic contact with friction over the Church’s conduct.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
The Holy See and Belgium maintain active diplomatic engagement, illustrated by Pope Francis’s official visit to Belgium in September 2024 and meetings with Belgian leaders. The visit also brought public criticism from Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo over the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse. These engagements show cooperation alongside a significant point of tension.
Areas of tension
- Belgian government criticism of the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse and calls for concrete action.
Key developments
Pope Francis made an official visit to Belgium and met Belgian leaders; Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called for concrete action on sexual abuse.
Major uncertainties
- The scope and practical effects of bilateral agreements between Belgium and the Holy See are unclear.
- The extent of follow-up cooperation on the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse is unclear.