Vatican City, Apr 23, 2010 / 07:58 am
Pope Benedict XVI officially accepted the resignation of Bishop of Bruges Roger Joseph Vangheluwe on Friday. The bishops resignation was seen as "indispensable" for truth by the president of the Belgian bishops.
Bishop Vangheluwe's resignation was officially announced by the Vatican just after noon local time. The resignation is the second in as many days due to involvement in cases of pedophilia in the Church.
Accompanying the brief note from the Vatican announcing Pope Benedict's decision was an official statement from the bishop himself admitting his own guilt of committing sexual abuse against a minor.
Beginning from the time he was a "simple priest" and continuing into the the first part of his episcopate, he wrote, he "sexually abused a young person."