Although Pope Francis planned to make him a cardinal in August 2022, he agreed not to at Van Looy's request.

After three years in South Korea he studied theology at the Catholic University of Louvain from 1967 to 1970, earning a licentiate in missiology.

In 2007, Bishop Van Looy assigned another Belgian priest who had been found guilty of sexually assaulting a minor in 1994 to a new parish.

[2] In 2010, after Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard of Mechelen-Brussels described AIDS as a form of justice imposed on those who have engaged in promiscuous sex, Van Looy joined those criticizing such an viewpoint.

[11] On 27 November 2019, Pope Francis accepted his resignation and named Lode Van Hecke to succeed him.

[15] He received a cardinals ring from the pope that Van Looy describes as a personal gift without canonical effect.