Cardinal’s visit may offer hope for imprisoned Belarusian priests

Authorities at the Bobruisk penal colony last month refused the apostolic nuncio Archbishop Ignazio Ceffalia and Bishop Oleg Butkevich of Vitebsk a meeting with two imprisoned priests.

Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti met President Aleksandr Lukashenko during a visit to Belarus to mark the centenary of the Diocese of Pinsk.

The cardinal visited Lukashenko in Minsk on 27 October, after visiting the southern diocese for the festivities, according to the state news agency.

Gugerotti, the prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, served as apostolic nuncio to Belarus from 2011 to 2015. He is understood to be well acquainted with the situation of Church in Belarus, including the plight of priests imprisoned by the Belarusian authorities since 2020.

In September, the Belarusian outlet katolik.life reported that authorities at the Bobruisk penal colony refused the current apostolic nuncio Archbishop Ignazio Ceffalia and Bishop Oleg Butkevich of Vitebsk a meeting with two imprisoned Catholic priests, Andrzej Juchniewicz and Henrik Okolotowicz.

“For believers, this news has great significance. Until now, amid the silence of the official episcopate, it seemed that the church authorities were not trying to support the convicted. Now it is clear that attempts were made, but the authorities did not give permission,” katolik.life reported, raising hopes that Gugerotti might help the cause of the priests.

“Indeed, Belarusian Catholics have considerable expectations that Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti’s visit could bring a breakthrough in the issue of imprisoned priests. Whether these expectations have any real basis remains an open question,” said Belarusian Orthodox priest Yury Roi, who fled the regime and currently lives in Vilnius.

He told The Tablet that Lukashenko was “very cynical” in trying to exploit the Holy See for his own political purposes.

“At present, the principle of human trafficking is clearly visible both in terms of imprisoned priests and of all our political prisoners in general. The regime is creating a situation in which people become hostages in order to later claim benefits for itself,” Fr Roi said, adding that the wider Church was also a hostage to Lukashenko.

However, Cardinal Gugerotti was “one of the most effective and sensitive apostolic nuncios in Minsk, who was able to maintain dialogue with the authorities without losing the dignity of the Church”, Fr Roi continued. “The regime still considers him a real and serious interlocutor.”

According to the ecumenical group Christian Vision, as of 16 October there were 34 Christian political prisoners in Belarus, including three Roman Catholic priests.

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