Lukashenko meets and jokes with the nuncio Msgr. Guggerotti

The meeting took place yesterday. Last September, he met with Mgr. Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican secretary for relations with states. Failed attempts to unblock the situation of Msgr. Kondrusiewicz, in exile in Poland. The Archbishop of Minsk has asked the Pope to be allowed to retire: on January 3 he will be 75 years old.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko yesterday received the Italian Archbishop Claudio Guggerotti, current nuncio to Great Britain, on a visit, in the role of special representative of Pope Francis. Guggerotti was nuncio to Belarus from 2011 to 2015, before the Hungarian Gàbor Pintér and the current nuncio, the Croatian Ante Jozic, who arrived in Minsk just over a month ago. After Minsk, Guggerotti held a mandate as nuncio to Ukraine.

According to various sources, Lukashenko said he was very satisfied with the Pope’s decision to send the ex-nuncio: "I am pleased to meet you, I have good memories of the meetings, negotiations and conversations with you, when you carried out your ministry here. I always say that the current Pope Francis is our Pope; from my point of view he is a person of the people, I feel in tune with him”.

The Belarusian batka asked Guggerotti to convey to the Pope his best wishes for the new year and his wishes for good health: "If he gets sick, don't worry: we are ready to welcome him to treat him, because we are capable of healing people. But now it is better not to get sick, there is Christmas, there are holidays, there is no time to get sick ... but in case he does he must come to us immediately ".

The president told the nuncio that the Covid-19 situation in Belarus is stabilizing: "We can celebrate: in the last two weeks there has been no increase in positive cases, in general things are going well, and above all incidences of pneumonia have decreased by 20- 40 cases a day,” he noted, citing the Telegram channel Pul Pervogo. After all, Lukashenko already at the first wave repeated that "the virus is for the weak, we just need to add more spirit to our vodka".

In turn, Msgr. Guggerotti recalled that during his mandate in Belarus much had been done to develop relations between Belarus and the Vatican, and Lukashenko replied that "unfortunately you left too soon, after Great Britain you should return to Belarus again, we have so many things to talk about ”. The nuncio jokingly replied that after London he may retire: "You never see the sun up there, it's dangerous for your health." The Archbishop explained that the Pope ardently wishes to celebrate Christmas with the faithful, but unfortunately the health measures will not allow it.

Guggerotti's mission is the second special negotiation undertaken by the Vatican after the refusal last August 31 to allow the Catholic Metropolitan of Minsk, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, still in exile in Poland, to return home, accused by Lukashenko of "having gone to take orders in Poland ". On 11-14 September, Msgr. Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican secretary for relations with states, held talks with local authorities, including foreign minister Vladimir Makeev, but they have led to few visible results. For his part, in recent days, Kondrusiewicz made it known that he had forwarded to the Pope the request for resignation due to age limits: on January 3, he will be 75 years old.