Brody's Notes... Belgian Archbishop Celebrates Mass With A Pie In His Face

Belgian Archbishop Andre Leonard
Photo By Yves Logghe The Associated Press

By Brody Levesque (Bethesda, Maryland) NOV 7 | According to the alternative Belgian media website Mediageil, the country's ultraconservative Roman Catholic archbishop was hit by a pie in the face during an All Saints Day service.

Footage of the incident released Saturday showed a young man approaching Archbishop Andre Leonard on Monday and smacking him with a pie. A church official says the archbishop will not press charges against the unknown attacker.

The incident came amid growing turmoil within Belgium's Roman Catholic church, which faces an investigation into hundreds of cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests. Leonard himself shocked Catholics by sympathizing with priests accused of pedophilia and by saying that homosexuals deserved to get AIDS.

On Tuesday of last week, the church's spokesman quit his job, publicly saying he could no longer speak for a "loose canon."