WARSAW (CNS): Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk-Mohilev, Belarus, was barred from reentering his country from abroad, after warning in a pastoral letter that the nation’s worsening crisis could spill into civil war.
“Returning to Minsk, I was not allowed in at the Kuznica-Bialystok border crossing,” Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, the president of the Belarusian Bishops’ Conference, told the Catholic information agency, KAI, in neighbouring Poland on August 31.
“No explanation was offered whatsoever, even though I’m a citizen of Belarus. I was told I was banned from entering Belarus, nothing more.”
Church sources in Minsk confirmed the exclusion of the 74-year-old archbishop, as Belarusian security forces confronted demonstrators protesting the 26-year rule of Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed victory a disputed presidential election August 9 (Sunday Examiner, August 16).
In a statement on September 1, Lukashenko claimed there was information that Archbishop Kondrusiewicz might have citizenship in more than one country.
“We’re studying (it), I’m not confirming it. We want to study the issue. If everything is clean and legal, we will act according to the law. We do not care who he is—the top Catholic, Orthodox or Muslim. He must live according to the law,” Lukashenso said.
In a letter, read in churches on August 30, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz said society was “spiritually ill” in Belarus.
“Our motherland is experiencing an unprecedented sociopolitical crisis, deepening day by day—in peace-loving and tolerant Belarus, brother has raised his hand against brother, resulting in bloodshed and many injuries,” the archbishop said.
In an August 31 interview with Poland’s Catholic TV Trwam, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz stressed, “Despite the suffering, the Christian approach must be one of forgiveness. But people often do not hear the voice of the Church and I’m afraid the lack of any settlement is threatening a civil war.”
