The bishop of the Flemish city of Bruges has resigned after admitting sexually abusing a young boy several years ago, the Roman Catholic Church in Belgium announced yesterday.

Roger Vangheluwe was the first bishop directly implicated in sex abuse to resign since a fresh wave of scandals involving Roman Catholic priests.

"Before I was a bishop and for a certain time afterwards I sexually abused a young boy close to me," said Bishop Vangheluwe, 73, in a letter read out to reporters by a Church official.

"The victim is still scarred" mentally, the letter added.

While scant details were given on the abuse, the bishop assumed his role in 1985 and a church official said the time limit for criminal action against him had expired.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.