Vatican: An Explosive Appointment

While Pope Francis appears to have entered a long period of convalescence, some consider it a transitional period. The progressive agenda at work under the current Pontificate is far from slowing down.

On March 21, 2025, the Holy See announced the appointment of Bénédicte Lemmelijn, a Belgian theologian and Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), to the Scientific Council of the Holy See Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of the Quality of Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties (AVEPRO).

For the record, the mission of AVEPRO—a body created by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007—is to ensure that ecclesiastical institutions maintain internationally recognized academic standards in teaching, research, and service.

The appointment of Bénédicte Lemmelijn to the AVEPRO Scientific Council places a progressive theologian in a position of influence in the evaluation of Catholic universities worldwide. 

The conservative Catholic media outlet The Pillar also notes that this decision risks rekindling tensions that arose during the papal visit to Belgium, where Catholic universities, notably KU Leuven and UC Louvain, have been particularly critical of the Church's traditional teaching, particularly in matters of ethics.

The Vatican-promoted theologian, a professor of exegesis at KU Leuven since 2003 and a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission since 2021, attracted attention during the Roman Pontiff's last visit to the flat country, in 2024. Under her leadership, the Faculty of Theology in Louvain published a text asserting that theologians should not simply be "ventriloquists" of the Magisterium, but should also subject it to critical analysis.

Furthermore, during this visit, Bénédicte Lemmelijn presented Pope Francis with a book, The Bishop of Rome and the Theologians of Louvain, including a chapter calling for a "rethinking of the Church's norms on sexuality." These positions were perceived as a challenge to papal authority, exacerbated by a statement from the University of Louvain criticizing the Pope's remarks on women as "conservative" and "reductive."

The Sovereign Pontiff, in an in-flight press conference, denounced this statement as "premeditated" and "immoral." Hence why there was surprise at the announcement of such an appointment. 

At first glance, at least, because upon closer inspection, there is not necessarily any break in continuity with the current Pope's repeated call for a "theology of going out," particularly in the motu proprio Ad theologiam promovendam, in which the Argentinian Pontiff insists on a "contextualized" and "dialogic" theology, in other words, one that ignores the traditional magisterium.

Is this the desired effect? ​​The choice of the Louvain academic, which also gives the progressive wing a bone to chew on, likely with the aim of avoiding possible ruptures, is sure to fuel divisions within the Church's various tendencies, at a time when the wounds caused by the declaration Fiducia Supplicans (2023) have barely begun to heal.

Because, even if Bénédicte Lemmelijn will be far from having a free hand in her new position at AVEPRO, her appointment is not good news for priestly training which deserves theologians of a different caliber and stature.