There are eight dioceses, including one archdiocese, seat of the archiepiscopal residence and St. Rumbolds Cathedral, located in the Flemish city of Mechelen (Malines in French). The Belgian church also … See more

The Belgian church established the Catholic University of Louvain in 1834, nowadays split into the Université catholique de Louvain and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (acronymic … See more

Belgium has a mixed private and public health care system. Catholic institutions provide three-quarters of the hospital beds in Flanders and 42% in Wallonia, French-speaking Belgium. The Church also runs about a third of the nursing homes in the country. See more

About 57% of Belgians identify as Catholic, though actual involvement in the church might be much lower. Like elsewhere in Northwest Europe, many no longer profess faith in the Church; Sunday church attendance has dropped well below 10% as per latest … See more

Like several other countries since the mid-1990s, Belgium has been affected by a clerical sex abuse scandal. Priests have been found guilty of sexual conduct with minors.
In 1992, Louis Dupont, the parish priest of Kinkempois See more

In 2022, the Flemish bishops approved a blessing ceremony for homosexual couples. The three-page document noted that "such a prayerful moment can be quite simple. The difference with what the Church understands as a sacramental marriage must also … See more

There is a small Eastern Catholic community in Belgium, mainly Chaldeans and Byzantines. On 18 February 2024, the first Byzantine rite ordination to the diaconate in Belgium was performed by bishops Johan Bonny (Latin rite) and Petro Holiney (Byzantine … See more