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St. Francis of Assisi's Church is a brutalist-style church in Louvain-la-Neuve, part of the Belgian municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, in the province of Walloon Brabant.

On 21 May 1985, Pope John Paul II met the parish's members and he blessed the new statue Sedes Sapientiae. Afterwards, he met the representatives of the university community in Collège Erasme and delivered a speech on the Grand-Place in Louvain-la-Neuve during the last day of his first visit to Belgium.

Construction
St. Francis of Assisi's Church was built between 1974 and 1984 by the architect Jean Cosse, member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium since 1976 and professor of architecture in the UCLouvain Faculty of Architecture, Artchitectural Engineering and Urban Planning in Brussels and at the Faculty of Engineering of UMons.

In a 1994 interview for the newspaper Le Soir, Jean Cosse mentioned that "the authorities suggested no tower. In 1974, it was a residue of May 68. Personally, I wanted to build a tower. They agreed but on the condition that it be put on the side, separate from the church. Construction took ten years. By 1984 mentalities had changed. One sign of this is that we put four bells in the tower."

Designer of St. Paul's Church in Waterloo, Jean Cosse also designed Clerlande Monastery in Ottignies and transformed the Blocry Church in Louvain-la-Neuve.

Papal visit in 1985
During his 26-year pontificate, Pope John Paul II came to Belgium twice. The first visit was from 16 to 21 May 1985 and the supreme pontiff went to Brussels on 16 May, to Antwerp, Ypres and Ghent on 17 May, to Mechelen, Beauraing and Namur on 18 May, to Brussels, Namur, Laeken and Liège on 19 May, to Leuven on 20 May and finally to Louvain-la-Neuve and to Banneux on 21 May.

He arrived by helicopter on the bridge where the Lauzelle Boulevard spans Route 238 (since renamed Pont du Pape). John Paul II first went to St. Francis's Church (inaugurated a little time before, in 1984) where he communed with himself and talked to the members of the parish and blessed the new Statue Sedes Sapientiae, symbol of the university.

Then, he went to the patio of the Erasme College (so the Philosophy and Letters), where all the members of the university community were waiting for him, before he had joined the Grans-Place. There he has been welcomed by the UCL education officer Edouard Massaux and he delivered a speech in front of 30,000 people. After, the pope went back to his helicopter and took off from this place named “Pope’s Bridge” after Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve local council dated September 3, 1985.

As a souvenir of this papal visit, two commemorative plaques had been placed: one on the “Pope’s Bridge” and the other on the “Grand-Place”, on the facade of the Faculty of Theology (Albert Descamps College).

Patrimonial status
The church is the subject of an “inscription” as monument and is part of the Inventaire du patrimoine culturel immobilier de la Région wallonne, the reference is 25121-INV-0074-01.

The porch
At the entrance, there is a porch supported by 3 columns and by a wall face built up against the tower. This porch is built in a pure Brutalist style: the surface of its columns, its lintel and its reinforced concrete beams presents the typical aspect of rough and ready concrete owed to the texture from wood form. The porch lintel is decorated with six diamonds sporting a cross which surround a bigger diamond decorated with a Chi Rho.

The tower
On the right of the porch stands the tower made with red bricks and exposed concrete. This one is less visible here than on the porch, but we can see it above the bays on the inferior level where it plays a role similar to discharging arches.

From the top, the tower looks like a cross. The low parties have cut corners drilled by thin and high windows, whereas the last level that shelters the bell is opened onto its four sides. The tour likeness to Isengard from The Lord of Rings noticed on social medias like 9gag.

The sanctuary
The sanctuary has a rectangular form with three lean-to slate roofs sited on the top. It is prolonged through a long wing sheltering a presbytery, a multi-unit building and a meeting room.

Public art around the church
On the paved forecourt in front of the church stands the sculpture Homage to Father Kolbe. This is a 2.1-metre bronze sculpture standing on a stone base encircled by two steel columns. It pays tribute to the Polish Franciscan, Maximilian Kolbe, who died in Auschwitz in 1941 after he decided to take the place of a father who had been sentenced to death.

It was made in 2005 by the sculptor Jean-Paul Emonds-Alt at the express demand of the sponsor Julien Lambert. At its inauguration, the artist explained: "Mentioning Father Kolbe’s sacrifice reminds us of the inexpressible sufferings of the women and men who fell victim to this human madness. My father and my brother, killed in June 1944 in a nearby concentration camp, figured among these victims."