_WORLD WATCH______________________________
____________________ Belarus ________________

New signs of anti-Catholicism
Orthodox Church gains government favor
Disturbing new indications of hostility to the Catholic Church have been reported from Belarus.

The broadcasting of Sunday Mass on the state radio service has been canceled without warning, and the official newspaper of the city of Vitebsk—Vitebski Rabochi (“Vitebsk Worker”)—recently carried an article calling for a ban on the establishment of “Catholic institutions.”

The article was unsigned—which, in today’s Belarus suggests that it is a “trial balloon” to test an idea that might later be incorporated into official policy. The anonymous author urges that Catholic institutions should be banned since, “in particular, they are liable to entice our children from Orthodoxy into Catholicism.”

Belarus is officially a secular state, with a constitution that embodies the principle of separation of Church and state. However, its authoritarian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, although he proclaims himself to be an atheist, nevertheless looks to the Orthodox Church for support in his policy of the “integration” of Belarus with Russia.

Almost simultaneously with the appearance of the Vitebski Rabochi article, there were reports in the Belarusian media of a meeting between Lukashenko and the ruling Synod of the Orthodox Church in Belarus. New legislation on religion would be introduced in the near future, the president said, which would enable the Orthodox Church to “substantially expand” its “participation in the spiritual, moral, and patriotic upbringing of the younger generation.”

Twenty-one years ago, when—under pressure from the new Solidarity movement—the Communist government of Poland agreed to permit the broadcasting of Mass on Sundays, authorities in Belarus (then a Soviet republic) were afraid that young people might be tempted by this “religious propaganda.” So they produced a counter-attraction, scheduling a Western-style pop-music program for the same time slot. In 2002, however, to fill the slot vacated by “Voice of the Soul,” the radio station put out a program of recorded songs by Russian performers.

Back to Catholic World Report February 2002 Table of Contents