Born on a humid June morning in 1947 in the Belgian city of Ghent, Jozef De Kesel was the sixth of eleven children in a family whose roots intertwined faith and service. His father, a modest civil servant, and his mother, a devoted homemaker, fostered in him an early curiosity about the tapestry of human belief. By age eighteen, he had already answered what he later described as “an inner summons,” entering the diocesan seminary of Saint-Paul in Ghent to study philosophy and theology.
After three formative years at the Catholic University of Leuven, De Kesel carried his questions to Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University. There he immersed himself in Scripture and patristic studies, and in 1977 completed a doctorate with a dissertation on Rudolf Bultmann’s existential hermeneutics, exploring how modern readers might encounter the New Testament’s message without reducing it to mere myth.
It was during those Roman years that he adopted his episcopal motto, Vobiscum Christianus—“With you, a Christian”—a succinct articulation of his belief that the essence of Christianity is presence and solidarity with every person, regardless of background or belief.
Ordained to the priesthood on August 26, 1972, by his uncle, Bishop Leo-Karel De Kesel of Ghent, he returned home with youthful zeal. His first assignments combined parish work with teaching catechesis to young adults, experiences that convinced him that effective ministry required both doctrinal clarity and genuine personal encounter.
Soon the classroom beckoned. From 1980 to 1996, De Kesel taught fundamental and dogmatic theology at the Major Seminary of Ghent, later serving as dean of the Higher Institute of Religious Sciences. Students recall his lectures for weaving rigorous scholarship with an abiding respect for questions that resisted easy answers, cultivating in him a conviction that faith must be both critical and compassionate.
On March 20, 2002, Pope John Paul II appointed him Titular Bishop of Bulna and auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels. Consecrated on May 26 by Cardinal Godfried Danneels, he assumed oversight of liturgy and catechesis in one of Europe’s most religiously diverse capitals, learning firsthand the challenges of shepherding both urban parishes and immigrant communities.
In Brussels he represented Belgium on the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, engaging in discussions on religious freedom, migration policy and the role of faith in public life. These early assignments sharpened his resolve to make dialogue not a sideline but a cornerstone of his ministry.
In 2010 he was named Bishop of Bruges and installed on July 10, where he balanced diocesan governance with a deepening concern for ecumenism. He launched programs bringing Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox youth together for summer camps, convinced that lifelong friendships forged across confessional lines could reshape Belgium’s communal bonds.
In a November 14, 2016 interview with ZENIT, he drew a crucial distinction between secular culture and secularism. He warned that secularism—an ideology intent on sidelining religion—must be resisted, even as secular culture offers a neutral arena where “no tradition claims cultural supremacy.” “The Church must not ‘conquer,’” he said, “but only be present, meeting others without ulterior motives”.
Five years later, on November 6, 2015, Pope Francis tapped him to succeed André-Joseph Léonard as Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. Installed before King Philippe on December 12, De Kesel inherited an archdiocese grappling with secularization, migration flows and periodic sectarian tensions, but his appointment signaled a pastoral style both conversational and theologically grounded.
Within weeks of his installation, his fellow bishops elected him president of the Belgian Episcopal Conference, a post he assumed on January 26, 2016, giving him national responsibility for coordinating the Church’s response to shared challenges, from refugee integration to secularism’s rise.
Pope Francis elevated him to the College of Cardinals on November 19, 2016, recognizing him as a trusted interlocutor in Rome and further amplifying his voice on global Church issues . Three years later, on November 11, 2019, Francis named him a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture, entrusting him with dialogue between the Church and contemporary cultures, including other faith traditions.
Very early in his archiepiscopal ministry, on February 1, 2016, the Community of Sant’Egidio brought more than thirty religious and political leaders to Brussels’s Hotel Le Plaza for an Interfaith Harmony Breakfast. Confronting terrorism, migration and youth disengagement, De Kesel urged attendees to reject nihilism and instead “build bridges of understanding,” insisting that faith could flourish only when it met—rather than shunned—difference.
Just nine months later, on December 1, 2016, he joined Jewish and Christian leaders at the sixth annual “Juifs et Chrétiens, engageons-nous !” conference in Brussels’s Great Synagogue. Reflecting on Nostra Aetate’s fiftieth anniversary, he highlighted the shared patrimony of Abraham and called for ever-deeper memory work to heal historical wounds ﹣ a vision warmly received by participants.
Within the Vatican, Pope Francis tapped him for even broader horizons by naming him a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture in November 2019. That dicastery, charged with engaging contemporary cultures and world religions, reflects De Kesel’s lifelong project: to bridge conviction and curiosity, to honor truth while embracing dialogue. His voice there has championed initiatives on art and faith, migration and ecology—fields where secular and sacred concerns inevitably intersect.
In July 2019, New Europe asked him about the Church’s place in modern Europe. He stressed that “it is a pluralistic society, a secular society, where there are also other beliefs,” and insisted that Catholics must work “in solidarity with all who strive for a more just and fraternal society,” defending freedom of religion while “keeping our convictions”.
Perhaps most surprising to many was his willingness to step inside the Church of Scientology’s Brussels center. On February 5, 2020, as the Church of Scientology in Belgium celebrated its forty-sixth anniversary on Boulevard Waterloo, he sent a formal blessing: “I express the hope that your solidarity and help activities in our common home will be successful. May you continue to foster interreligious dialogue, with respect for diversity and otherness in the richness of the encounter.” Four years later, in November 2024, he returned in person to deliver the keynote address “Compassion as a Moral Imperative” at the “Celebration of Kindness and Peace at the Churches of Scientology for Europe” conference, declaring that “faith must serve as a bridge, not a barrier,” and calling all traditions to unite in empathy and understanding.
His partners in dialogue have included Buddhist legal scholar Ines Wouters, who spoke of how interfaith experiences safeguard freedoms and how “transforming yourself may transform the world,” and Swami Bhairavananda Sarasvati, who reminded that intercultural exchange is the only path to lasting peace. Their testimonials, offered in the wake of De Kesel’s addresses, testify to his capacity not merely to convene but to inspire genuine solidarity across creeds.
His interfaith encounters have spanned continents. In June 2024, a Belgian delegation he led under the Ferdinand Verbiest Foundation visited mainland China. From Beijing to Inner Mongolia, he and his companions met Chinese Catholic bishops, seminarians and scholars to “consolidate mutual visits and strengthen cultural exchanges and ecclesial cooperation,” embodying his belief that patient, respectful engagement can flourish even under complex political conditions.
In June 2023, Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, marking the close of an administrative chapter but not of his vocation. As Cardinal De Kesel, he remains an active presence in episcopal gatherings and scholarly symposia, ever articulate on the need for solidarity amid diversity. Through these gatherings—Sant’Egidio breakfasts, synagogue dialogues, Vatican appointments, blessings to unexpected hosts—Cardinal De Kesel has shown that conviction and conversation need not be adversaries. For him, peace is always, at its heart, personal: the fruit of countless moments of listening before speaking, of solidarity before proselytism.
As he watches a new generation in Belgium navigate religious diversity and secular pressures, he offers a simple counsel: remember history’s lessons, cultivate the spirit, and remain committed to solidarity. In his world, faith is neither barrier nor club but a bridge of compassion—each encounter an opportunity to affirm that the human family is at its best when it listens before it speaks, embraces before it excludes, and seeks unity not in erasure but in empathy.
