Moscow favours Orthodox Church in restitution of nationalized property
Moscow (AsiaNews) - The draft law on the "restitution of religious property nationalized by the state", which could be finally adopted on 19 November, is a source of controversy in Russia.
Representatives from the Catholic Church, the world of culture and authoritative national and foreign newspapers, point the finger at the Moscow Patriarchate, guilty of promoting, with the Kremlin complicity, the "clericalization" of society and also a desire to appropriate the assets that once belonged to other Christian denominations.
The question of the disputed bill began in 2007, but it was only last January that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for a speeding up of the "definition of a legal framework for the return of church property nationalized after the October Revolution of 1917”. The document is completed in record time and approved by the Commission government in May. In September, the text passed its first reading in the Duma (lower house of Russian Parliament). A second reading is expected next week and the third (Nov. 19) could lead to its becoming law.
The government claims it is motivated by a desire for "historical justice", while according to experts in the art world, the risk is that a large amount of works and collections will end up under the tutelage of the Orthodox Church, which has the economic tools to preserve them.
According to data from Kommersant newspaper, there federal are 6,584 objects of religious value catalogued among those of cultural patrimony. Of these, 6,402 are attributable to the Orthodox, 79 Muslims, 68 to Catholics, 13the Evangelical Lutheran, 21 to the Buddhists and 1 to the Jews. Not to mention the 4,417 regionally owned monuments of which 4241 are attributed to the Orthodox, 86 to the Muslims, 76 to the Catholics and 14 to the Jewish community.
The same newspaper, one of the most prestigious in Russia, denounces that the new law will “sign everything over in favour of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has become the propaganda arm of the social state". Meanwhile, an article in the German weekly Der Spiegel highlights the attempts of the Russian Orthodox Church to take possession of a number of religious buildings in Kaliningrad (formerly Koenigsberg and Germany before 1945), which however, in the past belonged to Catholics and Lutherans. Among these is the Catholic Church of the Holy Family and the Evangelical Church of St. Louise.
Mgr. Paolo Pezzi, the Catholic Archbishop of Moscow, said: "The law was decided and drawn up in secret, not only without any public discussion, but without even consulting with the various parties involved, such as Christian organizations outside the Russian the Orthodox Church. "
The prelate stresses that the Kaliningrad region became part of the Soviet Union after the Second World War and it is hard to find Orthodox churches in its territory before this period. The bishop points out for over 20 years that parts the Catholic community of Kaliningrad have been calling on the authorities to return confiscated property. " "I am convinced - he added - that this decision is deeply inconvenient should be reconsidered taking into account the interests of all the Christian communities in the region."
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