Pope Francis appointed on Friday a Belgian theologian who describes herself as "critically loyal" to the Church to serve on a Vatican body responsible for overseeing ecclesiastical universities.
The appointment is likely to prove controversial, as theologian Bénedicte Lemmelijn is dean of the theology department at a university which called last year for women’s ordination and a “rethink” on the Church’s moral theology regarding sexuality.
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The Vatican announced March 21 that Lemmelijn, dean of the faculty of theology and religious studies at KU Leuven had been appointed a member of the Scientific Council of the Holy See Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties.
The agency — AVEPRO — was established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, to ensure that ecclesiastical universities and faculties maintain internationally recognized quality standards in teaching, research, and services.
KU Leuven, Belgium’s best-known and oldest university, was at the center of controversy during Pope Francis’ September 2024 visit to the country, with Lemmelijn herself close to the center of the controversy.
Lemmelijn has been an Old Testament professor and researcher at KU Leuven since 2003, and was appointed to the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 2021. She became dean of theology in 2022.
When Pope Francis visited Belgium in September 2024, KU Leuven was widely criticized for an approach seen in the country as directly confrontational of the pontiff.
In fact, conflict between the pope and Catholic university academics in the country overshadowed for many all other elements of the pope’s visit to Belgium.
Ahead of the pope’s visit, KU Leuven’s Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, under Lemmelijn’s leadership, published an article emphasizing its approach to theology as "more than a ventriloquist of the Church."
The faculty asserted that theologians "do not simply repeat the views of religious authorities but subject them to thorough investigation and critical analysis."
And during an academic event at KU Leuven on Sept. 27, the university's rector, Luc Sels, challenged Catholic teaching in an address directly to the pope.
Sels criticized the Church’s stance on women’s ordination and LGBT issues, saying: "Why do we tolerate this considerable gap between men and women in a Church that is so often carried on the shoulders of women? Would the Church not be a warmer community if there were a prominent place for women, including in the priesthood?"
“Would the Church not gain moral authority in our corner of the world were it to have a less forced approach to the topic of gender diversity and were it to show more openness towards the LGBTQIA+ community and provide support for all those struggling with gender identity, like the university does?” he added.
After the speeches, Lemmelijn presented the pope with a book — “The Bishop of Rome and the Theologians of Leuven” — which included a chapter on “rethinking Church norms of sexuality.”
Lemmelijn told media after the event that the university wanted “to be a critical friend to the Church, who does not tell you what you like to hear, but speaks truthfully, even when that is sometimes difficult.”
She described the university’s commitment to the Church as “critically loyal”
“I think a problem that the Church today is facing is that it has a tendency to try to find universal truths… that is a problem because we have so many different countries with so many different cultures,” Lemmelijn added.
“And so as long as we try to have one universal, untouchable truth for all and everyone, that is difficult,” she concluded.
Following the visit, Lemmelijn told Vatican News that the university’s faculty of theology had displayed the rainbow flag during the pontiff’s visit as a sign of solidarity with Belgians who find Catholic teaching or its articulation hurtful.
"But it is not a sign of protest," she said, "but of inclusion and support for people who feel hurt due to certain statements that are too strong or too exclusionary."
Although KU Leuven is a Catholic university, it changed its name from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven to KU Leuven in 2011, seeming to downplay its Catholic identity.
And while the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels serves as the university’s grand chancellor, its leadership has distanced itself from the Church in recent years.
When the university rebranded from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven to KU Leuven, then-rector Mark Waer ambiguously told reporters that they could: "Interpret the 'K' as you wish. It can stand for 'kwaliteit' [quality]."
The university has allowed its students and faculties to use University of Leuven or Universiteit Leuven as valid names for the university.
When Francis visited Belgium in September, KU Leuven’s French-speaking counterpart, UCLouvain, provoked similar controversy.
In a September 28 speech at UCLouvain, the pope said that “what characterizes women, that which is truly feminine, is not stipulated by consensus or ideologies, just as dignity itself is ensured not by laws written on paper, but by an original law written on our hearts.”
In a press release issued just moments after the pope’s speech, UCLouvain criticized Francis’ remarks on women as “conservative” and “deterministic and reductive.”
“UCLouvain is an inclusive university and committed to the fight against sexist and sexual violence,” the release said.
“It reaffirms its desire for everyone to flourish within it and in society, whatever their origins, gender, or sexual orientation. It calls on the Church to follow the same path, without any form of discrimination.”
In his papal flight press conference, Pope Francis called the press release “premade” and “not moral” for having been released “in the moment in which I spoke.”
The pope added that if his perspective seemed “conservative” at the university, it is because “there is an obtuse mind that does not want to hear about this.”
At the same time Francis appointed Lemmelijn to the Vatican committee, the pontiff also appointed Fr. Juan Chapa Prado, professor the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarra, Fr. Léonard Santedi Kinkupu, rector of the Catholic University of the Congo, and Prof. Emilio Marin, vice rector for international cooperation of the Catholic University of Croatia in Zagreb.
Navarra is widely known as a theologically conservative faculty of theology, suggesting that the Vatican might have intended a balancing act among Catholic university academics.
