Prelate criticizes Belarus' restrictions on rights of foreign clergy

Published: 2008-03-11

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- The head of the Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev, Belarus, has criticized the government's restrictions on the rights of foreign clergy. "The tendency generally holds sway that there should be as few foreigners among the clergy as possible," Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz told Poland's Catholic information agency, KAI, March 7. "It depends on the central government whether particular priests, monks or nuns obtain visas. New regulations have now been adopted that a foreign clergyman can obtain a visa for one year only." He said the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had "shown openness" toward the Catholic Church by allowing it to broadcast Sunday Masses on state radio and other festivities on TV. But he added that clergy visas could only be issued by the government's State Committee for Religion, which requires visiting priests to produce higher education certificates. "This is incomprehensible to me, since it's the bishop who decides who to invite -- it isn't the business of the state," said Archbishop Kondrusiewicz.

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