Lode Van Hecke

Coat of arms of Lode Van Hecke

Lode Van Hecke OCSO (born March 16, 1950 in Bruges ) is a Belgian religious and Roman Catholic bishop of Ghent .

Life

Lode Van Hecke entered the seminary of Bruges, a year later switched to the seminary in Leuven and studied philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven . After a break in military service, he graduated with a degree in philosophy, before joining the Trappist order on February 24, 1976 in Orval Abbey . He made his solemn profession on March 6, 1983 . After studying theology in Leuven, which he completed with a licentiate in 1988, he received the sacrament of ordination on August 20, 1995 .

From 1990 to 1998 he was the novice master of Orval Abbey and then headed the monastery brewery for three years. In 2001 and 2002 he was prior and economist of the abbey and then secretary to Abbot General Bernardo Olivera in Rome until 2004 . After his return he was prior again since 2005 and at the same time responsible for the monastery hostel. On May 25, 2007 he was elected 63rd abbot of Orval Abbey . The Abtsbenediktion he received on June 2 of that year.

On November 27, 2019, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Ghent. He was ordained bishop by Jozef Cardinal De Kesel , Archbishop of Mechlin-Brussels , on February 23 of the following year in Ghent's St. Bavo Cathedral . Co- consecrators were Van Hecke's predecessors Lucas Van Looy and Pierre Warin , Bishop of Namur . Queen Paola was one of the guests of honor at the consecration .

Web links

• Entry for Lode Van Hecke on catholic-hierarchy.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Rinuncia del Vescovo di Gent (Belgio) e nomina del successore. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office , November 27, 2019, accessed November 27, 2019 (Italian). 
2. ↑ Lode Van Hecke on the massale belangstelling tot bisschop gewijd. hln.be, February 23, 2020, accessed on February 23, 2020 (Dutch). 

predecessor	Office	successor
Lucas Van Looy SDS	Bishop of Ghent since 2019	---