Paul Van den Berghe


Paul Van den Berghe is a Belgium Bishop in the Roman Catholic Church.

Biography

Van den Berghe obtained a degree in Thomist philosophy and was ordained a priest on June 15, 1957. He then earned a doctorate in theology in 1961 and became professor of exegesis at a seminary in Ghent, where he was one of the founders was the Hoger Instituut voor Godsdienstwetenschappen. He served as the editorial secretary of Collationes, a Flemish magazine of pastoral theology, and wrote numerous articles on the exegesis of the New Testament.
On July 3, 1980 he was appointed the 21st Bishop of Antwerp by Pope John Paul II and consecrated on September 7, 1980. His motto, chosen from a verse in the book of Galatians is: "Libertati liberavit nos". In the Belgian bishops' conference he was responsible for the Interdiocesaan Pastoraal Beraad.
In 2008, he had reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 and on October 28, 2008, he was succeeded by Bishop Johan Bonny.