Pope transfers Moscow archbishop to Belarus, names Italian successor

Published: 2007-09-21

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Moscow to head the Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev in Belarus. The Sept. 21 appointment fills a see left vacant by the 2006 retirement of Cardinal Kazimierz Swiatek. The same day, Pope Benedict appointed an Italian missionary working in St. Petersburg, Russia, Father Paolo Pezzi, as the new head of the Moscow-based Archdiocese of the Mother of God. Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, who was born in Belarus, told Vatican Radio Sept. 21, "I go to Minsk with great joy." Archbishop Kondrusiewicz was responsible for the pastoral care of Belarusian Catholics when he served as apostolic administrator of Minsk, 1989-1991.

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