Pope ends troubled visit to Belgium by demanding no cover-up of abusive clergy

Pope Francis presides over Sunday mass at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels (Andrew Medichini/AP)

Pope Francis has demanded that sexually abusive clergy be judged and their bishops stop covering up their crimes as he ended a troubled visit to Belgium by responding to the outrage over the scandal in the country that has devastated the church’s credibility.

Speaking to 30,000 people in Brussels on Sunday in an address which drew applause repeatedly as the crowd took in what he was saying, Francis told them: “Evil must not be hidden. Evil must be brought out into the open.”