Pope meets group of refugees and pays tribute to late Belgian King Baudouin

By Vatican News

As he left the Apostolic Nunciature in Brussels’ municipality of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre on Saturday morning to meet the Belgian clergy and religious at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Koelkelberg, Pope Francis briefly greeted a group of European Union officials.

The group included the Vice President of the European Commission, Margarítis Schinás, the Vice President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica, the Representative of the World Health Organization to the European Union, Oxana Domenti, and the WHO Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge.

He then stopped to greet the crowds who had gathered around the Nunciature to meet him, and in particular children and young people.

Pope Francis greets EU officials at the Apostolic Nunciature

Breakfast with refugees at Church of Saint-Gilles 

Before heading to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Koelkelberg, Pope Francis took some time to have breakfast with a group of poor people and refugees at the local Church of Saint-Gilles, which assists them.

A refugee from Togo, named Chris, recounted his crossing of the Mediterranean to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa and intoned a song to Mary he sang in his worst moments of fear during that perilous journey.

The Pope was greeted with a bottle of Biche Saint Gille, a beer produced by the parish to help fund its charitable works.

After a brief speech, the Pope offered the parish a statue of Saint Lawrence the Martyr, which bore the inscription: “I am happy to see how love fuels communion and creativity here. You even produce beer! I imagine it's very good. I will tell you this afternoon."

Pope Francis prays before the tomb of King Baudouin

'King Baudouin was a courageous king'

After his meeting with the country's bishops, priests, religious, and pastoral workers, Pope Francis visited the royal crypt beneath the Basilica of Our Lady of Laeken with the King and Queen of Belgium and paused to pray before the tomb of King Baudouin, who reigned from 1951 until his death in 1993.

Speaking to King Philippe and those present, the Pope praised the late king's courage for choosing to temporarily "leave his position as King to avoid signing a murderous law," which legalized abortion in 1990.

Pope Francis urged Belgians to look to him at a time when criminal laws are being enacted, and expressed his hopes that King Baudouin's cause for beatification will advance, according to the Holy See Press Office.