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Opinions & Interviews

31 Mar 2015

Kondrusiewicz: Many in favor of Pontiff’s visit to Belarus

Kondrusiewicz: Many in favor of Pontiff’s visit to Belarus

MINSK, 31 March (BelTA) - During the visit of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin to Minsk we heard many voices in support of the Pontiff's visit to Belarus, Metropolitan of Minsk and Mogilev Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said at a press conference on the occasion of the Easter celebrations, BelTA has learned.

The Metropolitan noted that the Cardinal's visit took place at the invitation of the Belarusian authorities. He held meetings at the highest levels: with the President, the Prime Minister, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. According to Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, they all conveyed the invitation to the Pope Francis to visit Belarus. "There were a lot of talks on this matter before. This issue has been raised on many occasions. But never before there were so many voices in support of this visit," said the Metropolitan and added that certain circumstances must be in place for that.

According to him, the Vatican has an unspoken rule that when planning a visit of the Pope to a country where Catholicism is not the major religion an invitation from the major denomination is needed to carry out the visit. In the case of Belarus this is the Orthodoxy. When asked whether this should be the official invitation, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said: "It is important that at least no one should be against”. He noted that during the visit to Minsk the Vatican Secretary of State met with Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavl Pavel, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus. "This is important for the development of the ecumenical dialogue because Catholicism and Orthodoxy must work together to meet the modern-day challenges," he said.

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