Days after Belarus brokered an end to an aborted coup in Russia and as the pope’s personal peace envoy closed a trip to Moscow, a top Vatican official arrived in Belarus to honor a famed icon and meet with high-level state and ecclesial officials.
OSV News) A Catholic parish priest accused of offending state authorities in Belarus said he understood the hardships facing prisoners of conscience after just four days in jail. I wouldn t wish this on anyone not a single hour in such a place, said Father Andrej Kulik, rector of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish at Miory. Many of my colleagues have sat in prison for various concocted reasons in recent decades, not just here in Belarus, and it made no difference that I
<p>Christian dissidents in Belarus, an eastern European country closely allied with Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation, have published a collection of unanswered appeals to the Vatican about the atmosphere of repression in their country, highlighting a growing disillusionment with papal diplomacy.</p>
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, pictured at Vatican Radio, July 8, 2019. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.Rome Newsroom, Feb 15, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA).The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has urged people in Ukraine to remain united in "the face of this great threat … on our borders."Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said that internal unity within Ukraine was essential "for the security and survival of our people" as the Eastern European country faces a potential full-scale Russian invasion.The archbishop s appeal for unity came ahead of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy s declaration that Feb. 16 will be a "day of unity" in Ukraine."They tell us Feb. 16 will be the day of the attack. We will make it a day of unity," Zelenskiy commented in a video message on Feb. 14, according to Reuters, which said that the Ukrainian president was not predicting an attack, but responding to foreign media reports."On that day, we will hang our nati