Vatican Nuncio toasts with Lukashenko. Kondrusiewicz's fate is uncertain

Archbishop Ante Jozic also brought gratulatory letters from Pope Francis. The recognition of the election of the Belarusian president does not appeal to many Catholics involved in the demonstrations. Lukashenko also accused the Archbishop of Minsk of "conspiring to destroy our country". For the president, the Orthodox Church is the Belarusian "bastion of religiosity". Many Orthodox priests do not follow the directions of the metropolitan and openly support the protests.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Belarusian Catholics are quite shocked by the images also broadcast on TV of the new apostolic nuncio, Msgr. Ante Jozic, raising a glass to toast President Alexandr Lukashenko and shaking hands with him.

The Belarusian president received the nuncio last November 6, marking the official recognition of his re-election by the Holy See. Lukashenko also received the gratulatory letters of Pope Francis along with those of the representatives of Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Turkey and Japan, the countries that have so far recognized the legitimacy of his re-election. During the meeting, Lukashenko addressed Msgr. Jozic with warm expressions of thanks: “Send my best wishes to the Pope of Rome. I respect him immensely. I met with many of his predecessors, but he is the best Pope in Rome”.

For local Catholic priests and faithful who support popular protests against the falsification of the August 9 elections, the images of the toasts are humiliating. Then recalling that the archbishop of Minsk Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz is in exile in Poland, a priest commented: "The Vatican proposes a new move by Ostpolitik: it favours diplomacy rather than supporting the local Church".

On the eve of the meeting with Msgr. Jozic, Lukashenko had even threatened Catholics, and in particular Metropolitan Kondrusiewicz, accusing them of "conspiring for the destruction of our country", in particular together with the hated Poles, and declared that he placed all his trust in supporting the local Church Orthodox, Belarusian "bastion of religiosity".

On Sunday 8 November, on the occasion of the feast for the icon "Joy of all the suffering", the Orthodox Metropolitan Venjamin (Tupeko) gave a homily distributed by the official sites of the exarchate of Minsk. In it he states that "in our time people want to hear a word of truth from the Church, but our word must not be like that of the scribes and Pharisees. Our truth surpasses that of such people, it must be God's truth, not only on the basis of human justice, but corresponding to His will ... it is better for us to be silent, waiting for the Lord to reveal his will ".

According to Venjamin, on the basis of this "expectation of divine revelation ... it is not appropriate to attribute the blame to only one part", and it is better to keep silent and fast. Prayer, silence and fasting are the solution he has proposed since his appointment as a way out of social conflicts.

In fact, many Orthodox priests do not follow the Metropolitan's directions and openly support the protests. Among these is Father Aleksandr Shramko, according to whom "the majority of conscious people are not those who just light a few candles in front of icons, but those who feel close to protests ... the Church does not survive only thanks to 'support of the power in office ”.

The nuncio Msgr. Jozic is seen in Belarus as an "anti-crisis manager", whose career has mostly covered countries hostile to Catholicism (India, Russia, China and others), and his position seems to "consider Belarusian Catholics as expendable for the Vatican geopolitical strategies carried out by the current pontificate”, according to the opinion of Petr Rudkovskij, director of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Research.

The embarrassment of many Catholics at the toast between Jozic and Lukashenko found various expressions. Deacon Jurij Reshetko, moderator of studies at the Catholic College of Minsk, made a solitary picket in front of the cathedral, holding a sign with the word "I object" (Oprovergaju), referring to presidential recognition by Catholics.