Belgium's longest-serving bishop resigned today saying he was "enormously sorry" for sexually abusing a young boy 25 years ago.

The resignation of Roger Vangheluwe, 73, the Bishop of Bruges since 1984, was the first from Belgium since the child abuse scandal hit the Catholic Church several months ago in Europe and the United States.

Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard of Belgium read a statement in which Vangheluwe announced his resignation and admitted to sexual abuse.

"When I was not yet a bishop, and some time later, I abused a boy," Vangheluwe said. He did not attend the news conference, but said the pope had accepted his resignation.

"This has marked the victim forever. The wound does not heal. Neither in me nor the victim," Vangheluwe said, adding that he repeatedly has asked the victim and his family for forgiveness.

"I am enormously sorry," he said.

Archbishop Leonard called Vangheluwe a "great brother and dynamic bishop," but said that his transgression would shock many.

"We are aware of the crisis of confidence his resignation will set in motion," he said. But he stressed the Catholic Church in Belgium was determined to "turn over a leaf from a not very distant past."