ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE >> Pope Francis wrapped up a troubled visit to Belgium on Sunday by doubling down on his traditional views on women and abortion and demanding that Catholic bishops stop covering up for predator priests — a scandal that has devastated the church’s credibility around the globe.

Francis revisited the key thorny topics of his trip to Belgium during his in-flight press conference coming home, praising Belgium’s late King Baudouin as a “saint” for having abdicated for a day in 1990 rather than sign legislation legalizing abortion.

“You need a politician who wears pants to do this,” Francis said, using a Spanish expression. “You need courage,” he said, adding that Baudouin’s beatification process was moving along.

Francis drew criticism from some in Belgium for having prayed at Baudouin’s tomb and for calling the abortion law “homicidal,” given that abortion remains a political issue in Belgium, with new proposals to extend the legal limit on an abortion from 12 to 18 weeks.

“Doctors who do this are — allow me the word — hitmen. They are hitmen,” Francis said. “And on this you cannot argue. You are killing a human life.”

It was the second time in as many weeks that Francis has been asked about his views on abortion during an in-flight press conference.

Francis used his only Mass in Belgium to publicly demand that priests who abuse young people be punished, and that the church hierarchy stop covering up their crimes. He praised the courage of victims who came forward about their abuse in improvised remarks to a crowd of some 30,000 at Brussels’ King Baudouin stadium.

“Evil must not be hidden. Evil must be brought out into the open,” Francis said to repeated rounds of applause as the crowd took in what he was saying.

Francis deviated from his prepared homily Sunday to respond to the meeting he held with 17 abuse survivors on Friday night, where he heard first-hand of the trauma and suffering they endured and the tone-deaf response of the church when they reported the crimes.

Belgium has had a wretched legacy of abuse and cover-up, none more symbolic of the church’s hypocrisy than the case of Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe. He was allowed to quietly retire in 2010 after he admitted that he had sexually abused his nephew for 13 years.

Francis only defrocked him this year — 14 years later — in a move clearly seen as finally dealing with a problem before his arrival in Belgium.

The victims gave Francis a letter with several requests, including establishing a universal church system of reparations since many say the financial settlements they have received from the church don’t even cover the costs of therapy many require.

Francis praised the victims’ courage and acknowledged that the settlements many have received in civil judgements — which he said he believed were capped at 50,000 euros — were not enough.

“We have the responsibility to help the abused and take care of them,” he said. “Some need psychological help: (We must) help them with this.”