The longest-serving Roman Catholic bishop in Belgium has resigned after admitting he sexually abused “a young man in my close entourage.”

In a statement issued by the Vatican on Friday, Roger Vangheluwe, 73, the bishop of Bruges since 1984, said that the abuse had occurred “when I was still a simple priest and for a while when I began as a bishop.”

“This has marked the victim forever,” he said.

The bishop said that on several occasions he had asked the victim and his family to forgive him, but the wound had not healed, “neither in me nor the victim.”