Pope Francis was pressed firmly by Belgium's king and premier on Friday for more concrete action to address sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, an issue once more in the spotlight as he visits. Both King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo raised the issue in public in unusually forceful language for a papal foreign trip,

BRUSSELS — In a speech in Brussels on Friday, Pope Francis denounced the sexual abuse of minors by priests as a “disgrace” that the Catholic Church must seek forgiveness for. “The church must be ashamed,” the pope said in a surprise departure from his speech at the Castle of Laeken.

On a brutal day for the frail and aging Pope Francis, the king of Belgium, its prime minister and the rector of the Catholic university that invited him here all ripped into the institution he heads for a spectrum of sins: for covering up cases of clergy sex abuse and being far behind the times on embracing women and the LGBTQ+ community in the church.