During his visit to Belgium and Luxembourg Pope Francis brought to those who met him a message of hope and a spirit of service.

"To serve" was his motto in Luxembourg; a country committed, after World War II, to promoting unity and solidarity in Europe. 

At his meeting with the Catholic community, held in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Luxembourg, he inaugurated a Marian Jubilee on the occasion of the four centuries of devotion to Mary, Patroness of the country, the Consolation of the Afflicted. 

He paused to consider three words: service, mission statement and joy. With regard to service, he stressed the spirit of welcome: "I encourage you to remain faithful to this heritage, to this richness that you have, to continue to make your country a welcoming home for everyone who knocks at your door asking for financial aid andhospitality" (speech, 26-IX-2024). A duty of justice and charity, which leads, as John Paul II said in this country in 1985, to share the message of the Gospel "in the word of advertisement andin the signs of love". Francis insisted on the unity between the word of advertisement and the signs of love, in this moment of Europe and the world. 

With regard to the mission statementHe pointed out that the Church, in the context of a secularized society such as the European one, must progress, mature and grow: "She does not withdraw into herself, sad, resigned, resentful, no; but accepts the challenge, in fidelity to the values of always, to rediscover and revalue in a new way the ways of evangelization, passing more and more from a simple proposal of pastoral care to a proposal of advertisement missionary". 

Thirdly, he stressed that our faith "is joyful, 'dancing', because it shows us that we are children of a God who is a friend of man, who wants us to be happy and united, and that nothing makes him happier than our salvation".

Already in Belgium - the bridge between the Germanic and Latin worlds, between southern and northern Europe, between the continent and the British Isles - the papal visit was held under the emblem "On the Way, with Hope".

In addition to noting the "two calamities" of this moment, the demographic winter and the hell of war, Francis pointed out that the Church is aware of the painful anti-witnesses in its midst, specifically the abuse of minors, to which both the King of Belgium and the Prime Minister referred in their speeches. The Pope indicated that it is necessary to ask for forgiveness and resolve this status with humility. It is necessary, he added, "that the Church always find in herself the strength to act with clarity and not to align herself with the dominant culture, even when that culture uses - by manipulating them - values that derive from the Gospel, but only to draw from them illegitimate conclusions, with their consequent burdens of suffering and exclusion" (meeting with the authorities and civil society, Brussels, 27-IX-2024).   

On September 27, the Successor of Peter met with university professors at the Catholic University of Louvain. He began by enunciating the first task of the university: "To offer an integral training so that people acquire the necessary instruments to interpret the present and project the future". Along these lines, he pointed out that universities should be "generative spaces" of culture, of passion for the search for truth and at the service of human progress. "In particular, Catholic universities, such as this one, are called 'to bring the decisive contribution of the leaven, salt and light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the living Tradition of the Church, which is always open to new scenarios and new proposal'" (Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium, 3).

In this context, the Pope invited them to "widen the frontiers of knowledge". "It is not a matter," he explained, " of increasing notions or theories, but of making the academic and cultural training a vital space, which embraces life and challenges it. 

In this way it will be possible to overcome the temptations of weak (and relativistic) thinking and of scientistic or materialistic rationalism. Two temptations related to each other by a Withdrawal or a reductionism in relation to truth.

"On the one hand, we are immersed in a culture marked by the Withdrawal search for truth; we have lost the restless passion to inquire, to take refuge in the comfort of weak thinking - the drama of weak thinking - to take refuge in the conviction that everything is equal, that one thing is worth the same as another, that everything is relative."

"On the other hand, when we talk about truth in university contexts and also in other areas, we often fall into a rationalist attitude, according to which we can only consider true what we can measure, experience, touch, as if life were reduced only to subject andto what is visible. In both cases the limits are reduced".

In relation to these two attitudes, the Pope spoke of "weariness of spirit" and "soulless rationalism," illustrating them with Kafka and Guardini. Seeking the truth is certainly exhausting," he said, "because it engages us, challenges us and makes us ask questions; and for this reason "we are more attracted to an easy, light and comfortable 'faith,' which never questions anything". On the other hand, if reason is reduced to the material, wonder is lost, and then the pathway of thought fails and the question of the meaning of life, which can only be fully recognized in God, is silenced. 

For all these reasons, it is necessary to invoke the Holy Spirit to widen the frontiers, not only of refugees, but also of culture and of knowledge, especially in the service of the weakest (cf. A. Gesché, Dios para pensar, Salamanca 2010). 

On Saturday, September 28, the Pope met with Belgian bishops, priests and pastoral workers in the Basilica of the Sacro Cuore in Koekelberg. To face the present moment, he proposed three paths: evangelization, joy and mercy. 

We are in the midst of a time and a crisis that invites us to return to the essential path: evangelization. "A time - the Bible calls it 'kairos' - that has been offered to us to shake us up, to challenge us and to change". The crisis is manifested in the fact that "we have gone from a Christianity established in a welcoming social framework , to a Christianity 'of minorities' or, better said, of witness". 

This, Francis observes, calls for the courage of an ecclesial conversion, to face the necessary transformations in terms of customs, the models of reference letter and the languages of the faith, so that they may be better placed at the service of evangelization (cfr. Evangelii Gaudium, 27). Concretely, we need to be more open to the demands of the Gospel in order to overcome uniformity and open ourselves to diversity, so as to reach more and better a society that no longer listens to it or is distancing itself from the faith. 

The second path to follow is joy.It is not a matter," the Pope explains, " of joys associated with something momentary, nor of consenting to models of evasion or consumerist amusement; but of a greater joy, which accompanies and sustains life even in dark or painful moments, and this is a gift that comes from above, from God. 

It is, therefore, the joy of heart aroused by the Gospel: "It is knowing that along the way we are not alone and that even in situations of poverty, sin and affliction, God is close to us, takes care of us and will not allow death to have the last word. God is near, closeness. 

On this point, Francis quoted a phrase of Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope, when he wrote that a rule of discernment is the following: "where humor dies, the Holy Spirit does not even exist (...). And vice versa: joy is a sign of grace"(The God of Jesus Christ, Brescia 1978). 

Thirdly, there is the pathway of mercy, because God never withdraws his love from us; mercy is necessary to change our hearts of stone in the face of suffering, particularly that of victims of abuse or of prisoners for mistakes made; because no one is lost forever. 

Before taking his leave, the Pope evoked a painting by the Belgian painter René Magritte, graduate The Act of Faith: "It represents a door closed on the inside, but with an opening in the center, it is open to the sky. It is an opening that invites us to go beyond, to look ahead and upwards, to never close in on ourselves, never in ourselves". 

And he added: "I leave you with this image, as a symbol of a Church that never closes its doors - please, never closes its doors -, that offers everyone an openness to the infinite, that knows how to look beyond. This is the Church that evangelizes, that lives the joy of the Gospel, that practices mercy".

The Pope rejoiced at meeting with university students at the classroom magna of the Catholic University of Leuven (28-IX-2024). They welcomed him with a hymn alluding to the encyclical 'Laudato si' in jazz style. Then they read him a letter that posed some challenges, including in a critical way certain aspects of Catholic doctrine. In his response, Francis expressed concerns about the future and anguish over uncertainty, while pointing out how hope is our responsibility.

With reference letter to development integral, he pointed out that "it refers to all people in all aspects of their lives: physical, moral, cultural, socio-political; and it opposes any form of oppression and discarding. The Church denounces these outrages, committing herself above all to the conversion of each of her members, of ourselves, to justice and truth. In this sense, the integral development appeals to our holiness: it is a vocation to a just and happy life, for all". 

After alluding to the role of women in the Church and the importance of study, she referred to the search for truth, without which life loses meaning. "Study has meaning when it seeks the truth, when it tries to find it, but with a critical spirit [...]. And in seeking it, one realizes that we are made to find it. The truth makes itself found; it is welcoming, available, generous. Andhe added: "And I confess that it saddens me when meeting, in any part of the world, universities that only seek to prepare students for profit or power. It is too individualistic, without community". 

He also wanted to emphasize the connection between truth and freedom: "Do you want freedom? Be seekers and witnesses of truth! Trying to be credible and coherent through the simplest daily decisions".

Finally, in his homily at Mass on Sunday, September 29, the Pope developed the trinomial of openness, communion and witness. And he announced that he would initiate the process of beatification of King Baudouin, so that "by his example as a man of faith hemightenlighten those who govern". The day before, at the tomb of this Catholic sovereign (who in 1992 abdicated for 36 hours in order not to sign the law on the legalization of abortion), Francis asked to imitate his example at a time when "criminal laws" are gaining ground and wished that his cause for beatification progress.