VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis on Sunday accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Minsk, who had been blocked for months by Belarusian authorities from returning to his homeland after criticizing the crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Monsignor Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, responsible for the Minsk-Mohilev diocese, did not return to Belarus until December 24, just in time to celebrate Christmas mass. That was almost four months after his entry was blocked during a return trip from a religious visit to Poland. The standoff ended last month after Francis sent a former Vatican ambassador to Belarus to Minsk to meet the country’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko.
Church rules require bishops to resign before their 75th birthday, and the Vatican said that Kondrusiewicz, who turned 75 on Sunday, did so. The pope immediately allowed him to resign. Popes often allow bishops to stay for months, even years, after turning 75.
The day after Kondrusiewicz tried to return to Belarus, Lukashenko accused him of “immersing himself in politics and dragging believers” into it. Weeks of massive protests saw Belarusian citizens invade the streets in daily protests demanding Lukashenko’s resignation.
The president’s victory after the August 9 election was widely seen as fraudulent. The protests continued to challenge a brutal police crackdown that arrested more than 30,000 protesters.
Francis has appointed an apostolic administrator to head the archdiocese for the time being, Monsignor Kazimierz Wielikosielec, who has served as auxiliary bishop in the diocese of Pinsk.