By Hannah Brockhaus
for Pope Francis’ Mass in King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels at the end of September sold out in record time on Monday.After becoming available for free online, 32,000 tickets for the Sept. 29 Mass were snatched up in just 90 minutes, surprising local organizers of the pope’s three-day trip to Belgium.“This pleasantly surprised us; it’s very positive to see such a high demand,” the spokesman for the Belgian bishops’ conference, Tommy Scholtes, told French Catholic newspaper La Croix.During the Mass, Pope Francis will beatify Carmelite Sister Ana de Jesús, a spiritual daughter of St. Teresa of Ávila and a friend to St. John of the Cross. Born Ana de Lobera y Torres, the religious helped expand the Discalced Carmelites to France and Belgium at the turn of the 17th century.The Brussels soccer stadium is Belgium’s largest, with a seating capacity of almost 50,000 people. Besides hosting the matches of the national soccer team, it has also been the venue for concerts by world-class music artists, such as Madonna, U2, and the Rolling Stones.Organizers explained that the approximately 18,000 remaining seats in the city-owned stadium are being reserved for groups from parishes, dioceses, and movements. After group registration closes, they may be able to release a few hundred more individual tickets for those who missed out on Monday morning.Pope Francis will visit three cities in Belgium to mark the 600th anniversary of the Catholic universities of Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve from Sept. 26–29. He will also make a brief stop in the small European country of Luxembourg on Sept. 26.In Belgium, a constitutional monarchy, the pope will greet King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, and have time with Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. He will also have meetings with professors and students at the country’s two Catholic universities and with Catholic clergy and religious.The Pope will also hold a private meeting with victims of sexual abuse during his visit.Francis’ final morning in the Low Countries will be spent with local Catholics in King Baudouin Stadium for the celebration of Sunday Mass on Sept. 29.A historically Catholic country, since the 1950s, Belgium has seen a significant decline in the number of its practicing Christians.A European Commission poll in 2021 found that 44% of the country, which has a population of over 11.5 million, identifies as Catholic, down from 72% of the population in 1981.The next largest demographic identified in the poll was those who say they have no religion, at 41%A 2023 study by the Catholic university KU Leuven estimates the number of Catholics in Belgium to be slightly higher, at 50% of the population, but with just 9% attending Mass at least once a month.
