Bishops seek money for cost of recent papal visit to Brussels

Belgium’s bishops are seeking €800,000 to finance the costs of last year’s papal visit to Brussels.

The Belgian bishops announced in a letter sent to parishes that a special collection will be held in all churches on the weekend of 20 and 21 September.

The money from that special collection will be used to finance Pope Francis’s four-day visit to Belgium, which took place last year.

"We still need to raise €800,000," the bishops said.

The pastoral part of the Pope’s visit was mainly financed by donations from believers that totalled nearly €2 million.

The donations made it possible to, among other things, rent the King Baudouin Stadium and make it accessible free of charge to participants, to finance the audiovisual recording of all the major moments of the visit for Belgian and international media, and to ensure the complete logistics and security of all participants.