Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz A Catholic bishop in Belarus accused President Alexander Lukashenko of “insult and slander” after the government official charged the Church’s exiled leader with planning to “destroy the country” and called for a bar on foreign clergy.
Auxiliary Bishop YuryKasabutski of Minsk said in social media post November 3 that he believed President Lukashenko’s words about Minsk Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz represented “a completely unfounded lie”.
The bishop said on Facebook that the Church prays for the government as it carries out repression of people protesting the Lukashenko regime and has issued repeated calls for unity, solidarity and mutual support that the nation come together in a time of unrest.
“The Catholic Church opposes violence, bullying and torture. It prays especially for political prisoners, and opposes repression and persecution, human rights abuses, humiliation, and dismissals and expulsions for dissenting views,” Bishop Kasabutski’s post said.