Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Thursday he has summoned the Vatican’s ambassador after Pope Francis described the country’s abortion laws as “murderous” during a visit last week.
Speaking to parliament, De Croo lambasted the remarks as “unacceptable”, adding he has invited the Holy See’s top diplomat in the country, the apostolic nuncio, “for discussions” on the issue.
“My message to the apostolic nuncio will be very clear: what happened there is unacceptable,” he said.
“We do not need lessons on how our lawmakers democratically approve laws. The time when the church dictated the law in our country is fortunately long behind us,” he said.
Francis, 87, drew criticism for his stance on women during a three-day visit partly clouded by past sexual abuse scandals.
During his stay, the Argentinian pontiff paid tribute to late Belgian King Baudouin who took a public stance against abortion.
In 1990 Baudouin refused to sign a law lifting penalties for abortion, citing personal convictions.
Visiting the monarch’s tomb, Francis described the legislation — passed after the king temporarily renounced his functions to avoid having to endorse it — as “a murderous law”.
He also later compared doctors performing abortions to hired killers.
The Roman Catholic leader has used similar language before. But his latest comments caused an outcry in Belgium, coming at a sensitive time.
Plans to extend the time limit to carry out an abortion to 18 weeks of pregnancy have been put on hold as parties negotiating to form a government after elections in June are divided on the issue.