Pope Francis Lauds Belgian King Who Chose to Abdicate Rather Than Sign Abortion Law

After addressing Belgian bishops in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels on Sept. 28, Pope Francis visited the basilica’s royal crypt named after Our Lady of Laeken, where many members of the Royal House of Belgium are buried.  

Welcomed by King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, the pope spent a moment in silent prayer before the tomb of King Baudouin in the crypt before lauding his witness to the protection of life.

Pope Francis’ comments about “murderous” and “criminal” laws come amid discussions about whether to extend the legal limit of abortion in Belgium, a country that also has some of the most liberal euthanasia laws in the world.

When abortion was first legalized in Belgium in 1990, King Baudouin chose to abdicate from his duties as King of the Belgians from April 3 to 5 in order not to sign the bill into law. When Baudouin died at the age of 63 in 1993, he had reigned continuously for 42 years except for those three days.

In the months before the abortion law was passed, Baudouin and his devout wife, Queen Fabiola, made a pilgrimage to the Holy House of Loreto, Italy, and asked the Blessed Virgin Mary for the courage to fight against the abortion law that was then under discussion, according to an article published by the Italian bishops’ newspaper Avvenire in 2019.

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During their pilgrimage to Loreto on their 30th wedding anniversary, the couple renewed their wedding vows within the walls of the Holy House. 

King Baudouin and his wife suffered from years of infertility. Fabiola was pregnant five times, and lost all of their children during pregnancy. The couple found strength amid this cross in the Eucharist. According to the testament of the chaplain of the Belgian Court, the couple attended daily Mass together.

While speaking with the Franciscan friars who serve at the Marian shrine in Loreto, Baudouin reportedly spoke about how he could not be a father as he would have liked and felt that he could not sign a law that would end the life of a child. He said that he and his wife placed their destinies in the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary asking for courage and strength amid this trial.

Following John Paul II’s visit to Belgium in 1995, the Polish pope also had words of praise for the late King Baudouin.

“I am thinking of the recently deceased King Baudouin, whom I had the good fortune to meet several times, not only during my previous visit to Belgium but also in Rome,” John Paul II said during a general audience on June 7, 1995.

“He was a great guardian of the rights of the human conscience, ready to defend the divine commandments, and especially the Fifth Commandment: ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ especially with regard to the protection of the life of unborn children.”

Andrea Gagliarducci contributed to this report from Brussels, Belgium.

Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.