During the Protestant Reformation, Spanish Habsburg rule, combined with the apostolic zeal of the new Jesuit and Capuchin orders, succeeded in preserving modern-day Belgium for the church. As recently as 1900, official statistics claimed that 99 percent of the population was Catholic.
Today that share has fallen to 57 percent, but the church still boasts an extensive network of Catholic schools, including two internationally recognized universities, and also provides over half the total number of hospital beds in the country and a third of its nursing homes.
In one sign of recognition for the church’s role, to this day priest salaries are paid by the state. With roughly 1,800 priests and an average annual salary of around $58,000, according to the Economic Research Institute, that represents a total outlay in excess of $100 million.
And, yet.
Source: Cruxnow
