Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 28 September (BelTA) – Catholic and Orthodox believers in Belarus try to face challenges of time together, BelTA learned from Archbishop Metropolitan of Minsk and Mogilev Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz on 28 September.

According to the source, the organization of the plenary assembly of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) in Minsk is primarily a great honor for the Roman Catholic church in Belarus. It means that the Roman Catholic church in Belarus has been revived, has grown stronger, and has enough resources for arranging a meeting of heads of episcopal conferences from 45 countries. “It is an honor for Belarus,” believes Metropolitan Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz. “It is a testimony that we have been granted new conditions for the development of the Catholic church in Belarus.”

Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz is also confident that good relations between representatives of different religions, in particular, the Catholic and Orthodox churches, had played a major role in the choice of Minsk as the venue for the plenary assembly. “We have just returned from the Saint Spirit Cathedral Church where Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavl, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus Pavel continues receiving European bishops,” remarked Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz. In his words, an Orthodox exarch of such a level has never received all European bishops in the history of the conference of Catholic bishops.

The head of the Roman Catholic church in Belarus said he believes that this forum began a new history in relations between the Catholic church and the Orthodox church in Belarus. In his opinion, the participation of Metropolitan Pavel in events of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences is another testimony of the fact that Catholic and Orthodox believers try to jointly respond to challenges of time and resolve emerging problems.