Belgian Church is getting ready for visit by Pope Francis

‘S-HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands – Countless volunteers and professionals are pulling out all the stops to ensure that Pope Francis’s visit to Belgium runs smoothly. Each one of them has a different task, but one thought prevails: This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“I think God wanted it this way,” said one altar boy.

He doesn’t know exactly how it happened, but together with fourteen other boys and girls, eighteen-year-old Bram Slegers was selected to be an altar boy at the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the King Baudouin Stadium on Sunday.

“I received an email telling me to go to the basilica of Koekelberg in Brussels because I was allowed to serve with the pope. There we were told we had been selected by our diocese,” Slegers said.

Each Belgian diocese was allowed to send two young people. The choice for Slegers will not have been difficult for the Diocese of Antwerp: He is an altar boy in no fewer than twelve churches in the diocese.

“I said yes because this is a unique opportunity,” he said.

The role suits him, too: He has had a priestly vocation for some time.

“I think God wanted it this way, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten that email,” he said.

Exactly what he has to do during Mass, he won’t be told by the pope’s staff until the night before.

“I already like the fact that I get to be on the stage with the pope, but maybe the incense is what I like most,” Slegers said.

“I see this as something God has given me,” he continued.

“He has given me a priestly vocation, which is already in full swing; with everything that is happening, I think God has also given me this,” he said.

The tailor: ‘Very proud that so many people will get to see our vestments’

The employees of Arte Grossé in Bruges are very proud. The company made the miter and choir coat that pope Francis will wear during Mass in the King Baudouin Stadium.

“I wouldn’t miss this moment for the world,” said business manager Marc Schotte. “It’s the highest recognition you can get.”

The Bruges-based company specializes in liturgical vestments and has provided vestments for several major church events in the past, but it’s the first time Pope Francis will wear their vestments.

When the Archdiocese of Malines-Brussels awarded Arte Grossé the job, the employees immediately got to work, said studio manager Katrien Verhelst.

“We first had to make a design, which also had to be approved. Our first design for the mitre, for example, was considered too busy,” she said.

The choice finally fell on a design inspired by a chasuble the company had previously made for Archbishop Luc Terlinden.

“We came up with the idea of just making a simple cross that incorporated all the colors of the chasuble. That was approved,” Verhelst explained. “It’s a design with cheerful colors, that exudes positivity.”

According to Schotte, the simplicity of the design fits the zeitgeist: “After all, the trend tends toward sobriety.”

In addition to the pope’s vestments, the workshop is also providing other garments and objects for the Mass, including miters, deacon’s stoles and 150 Communion trays. All of this had to be done in a short period of six weeks.

“It’s a big order and it kept us quite busy, also because of the time pressure involved,” Verhelst said, but she thinks it was absolutely worth the effort: “I am very proud that so many people will soon see our vestments. It’s quite an honor; you don’t get to do this every day.”

The interpreter: ‘This only happens once in a lifetime’

Nathalie De Clerck will act as interpreter during the meeting between the pope and church representatives in the Basilica of Koekelberg in Brussels. She received the assignment through her work as an interpreter at the European Parliament.

“One of my colleagues there – a Protestant no less – had been asked to act as interpreter during that meeting and was asked to find someone to come with him. He said, ‘I want a true Catholic, so I immediately thought of you’,” she explained.

De Clerck said she didn’t have to think long before saying yes.

“This happens only once in a lifetime. You don’t get an opportunity like this a second time,” she said.

“I myself have a great admiration for Pope Francis, because of his humility and the way he is slowly but surely getting much-needed reforms through, such as making the Roman Curia less powerful and the Church less clerical,” she explained.

De Clerck was already hoping to have a role during the papal visit, but being able to facilitate the conversation between the pope and Belgian church representatives from her expertise as an interpreter is right up her alley.

“I wouldn’t want to leave this up to a colleague who may be a good interpreter but is not Catholic. As an interpreter, you have to be the alter ego of the speaker in another language. At best, you can barely hear that there is an interpreter in between. You must not only understand the nuances, but the whole story behind it, the way of thinking and the mindset of the speaker. Therefore, if you have to interpret a pope, it seems to me a requirement that you be Christian, and preferably Catholic,” she said.

During the meeting in the basilica, the pope will likely speak his native language. De Clerck will translate the pope’s words into Dutch and the questions of his Belgian interlocutors into Spanish. She will do so from a booth with another Dutch-speaking colleague. There is also a booth where two French-speaking interpreters will sit. Interpreting comes down to much more than simply translating, she explained.

“You have to listen, think along, analyze, and all as quickly as possible. What is behind the words, the emotional value, is also important,” she said.

De Clerck said she hopes she will be able to convey the pope’s words as faithfully as possible.

“I hope to get into a flow. That is when you become so absorbed in what the speaker is saying that you feel: I am the speaker, in another language. When that happens I have been one hundred percent faithful to what the speaker wants to convey,” she said.

The organizer: ‘The message of Jesus may once again reach a wider audience’

Patrick du Bois is a veteran when it comes to organizing major church events.

Eighteen years ago, the 70-year-old was asked by Cardinal Godfrey Danneels to help him organize the evangelization congress in Brussels in 2006. He then joined the Archdiocese of Malines-Brussels as an economist, where he would be involved in many distinguished ceremonies, including the funeral of Danneels and the installation and consecration of archbishop Luc Terlinden.

When the latter told him that his knowledge and experience would come in handy during pope Francis’ visit, Du Bois did not have to hesitate for a second.

“It is an honor that Bishop Terlinden asked me to do this. It is a service I render to the Church. I also have the highest admiration for pope Francis’s message and how he tries to reach a wide audience, not only within the Church, but also those on the periphery. I think it’s very good that the pope is trying to reach as many people as possible in our secularized society,” he said.

Du Bois is the person responsible for organization and logistics, for which he liaises with the police, for example.

“Very precise security measures have to be taken around the pope,” he said.

The papal visit is also of a much larger scale than events Du Bois has organized before.

“For example, 260 journalists alone have to be accredited,” he explained.

Although he has been retired since last year, Du Bois has spent twelve hours a day organizing the papal visit since this spring. He says he does “look forward a little” to the moment when the event is over, but above all, he hopes to have organized a successful papal visit.

“I will look back with satisfaction when I have seen happy people who had a positive experience seeing and meeting the pope in Belgium. Even more so if all these people also received a renewed enthusiasm for the faith and Christian values,” he said.

“That is our hope, that people become a little more positive about the Church. The Church over here is now viewed in a very negative way: In Flanders a lot of attention has been paid to abuse issues, which of course is very important, but the message of Jesus Christ may again reach a wider audience,” Du Bois told Katholiek Nieuwsblad.

This article was translated for Crux by Susanne Kurstjens.