Belgian bishops still need to raise an additional €800,000 to cover the costs of the late Pope Francis's visit to Belgium last year. In a letter to Roman Catholic parishes, the bishops have asked all churches to organise a special collection.
A special collection will be held in all Roman Catholic churches in Belgium on the weekend of 20 and 21 September.
This is to finance Pope Francis's four-day visit to Belgium at the end of September last year. ‘We still need to find 800,000 euros,’ the letter states. Pope Francis was the leader of the world's Roman Catholics.
2 million euros in donations
The pastoral aspect of the late Pope's visit was mainly financed by donations from people with faith. 2 million euros was raised in this way. The donations made it possible to rent the King Boudewijn Stadium and make it accessible to participants free of charge.
In addition, donations also financed the audiovisual recording of all major moments of the visit for all Belgian and international media, as well as all the logistics and security for participants.