Vatican opens cause for beatification of Belgian King Baudouin

December 23, 2024

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CWN Editor's Note: The Vatican has announced the creation of a commission to explore evidence for the beatification of King Baudouin of Belgium, who ruled from 1951 until his death in 1993.

During his visit to Belgium in September, Pope Francis praised King Baudouin for his strong pro-life stand, and suggested that the Belgian monarch should be a candidate for beatification. (Baudouin had abdicated for a day in 1990 rather than give his formal assent to a law allowing legal abortion.) The Pope’s statement triggered protests from critics who accused the Pontiff of interfering in Belgium’s internal politics by referring to the abortion law as “murderous.”

Subsequently, criticism of the late Belgian monarch also questioned his involvement in the bloodshed following the independence of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which had been a Belgian colony. In particular, questions arose as to whether Baudouin had approved the assassination of the Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 1961.

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• Posted by: feedback - Today 1:10 PM ET USA

  King Baudouin's 1-day abdication did not save a single baby from death by abortion. The king just - sort of - evaded his responsibility and consequences for that single fateful day, when Belgium opened floodgates of abortions.