Vangheluwe resigned from his position as bishop of Bruges in 2010 after confessing that he had abused his underage cousin for years. He currently resides in France. At the end of September, after Bishop Bonny asked him to give up his titles during a visit, Vangheluwe sent a letter to the Pope. The contents of that letter are not known, but the pope’s representative in Belgium, Monsignor Franco Coppola, deduces from the time that has passed that Vangheluwe did not ask to be removed from clerical office. “Normally, that application would have been approved and published within 2 months,” it said.