Lukashenko: Pope's visit is possible only with consent of Orthodox Church

Alexander Lukashenko and Pope Francis. Photo: blaber.pl

The President of Belarus said that the visit of the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, to the republic can take place only with the consent of “our main confession” – the Orthodox Church. Alexander Lukashenko said this during a meeting with the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslawye, which took place in Minsk on November 2, 2020, reports BelTA.

“There is a lot of talk about the Pope’s visit: an invitation and so on,” the Belarusian President said. “I want you to know my position, and society should hear it. The Pope is the head of the state and the Church, therefore the invitation, if it comes from Belarus, should be from the head of state and the Orthodox Church, with which Catholics have a lot of problems."

According to Lukashenka, he does not want to "find himself between a rock and a hard place and create any inconvenience".

“Therefore, all sorts of insinuations, conversations that, almost incognito, the Pope will arrive, a crowd from all over Europe will gather here ... Naturally, Catholics from all over Europe will come, one hundred and two hundred thousand, this is a fact. But expose the Pope to these problems, when the state invites, and the Orthodox Church, our main confession, and our Patriarch do not agree, we will never agree to this. We have not been and will not be schismatics,” he said.

Lukashenko added that he personally is not against the Pope's visit to Belarus, "but there should be a general agreement on this".

“This should not cause irreparable division. Therefore, don’t keep any incomprehensible conversations about this and play this card in a political game. This is unacceptable,” he stressed.

We recall that in early September the head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry at a meeting with a representative of the Vatican confirmed the invitation to Pope Francis to visit the Republic.

As reported, earlier Aleksander Lukashenko commented on the situation with the head of the Belarusian Catholics, denied entry to Belarus, stating that “no one will be allowed to travel to Poland and receive advice on how to destroy our country”.

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