Auxiliary Bishop Iosif Staneuski. Photo: Catholic.by New Belarusian archbishop welcomed amid ongoing repression
Catholic leaders in Belarus welcomed a new head for its archdiocese after a nine-month interregnum, although some activists warned the new archbishop could be constrained in opposing repression in the former Soviet republic.
Pope Francis named Auxiliary Bishop Iosif Staneuski, 52, of Grodno as archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev September 14. He succeeds Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, who retired in January after four months of government-imposed exile.
Father Yuri Sanko, spokesman for the Belarusian bishops’ conference, said Archbishop Staneuski has “always presented himself as a true pastor for everyone. As someone who lives entirely for the Church, he’s a worthy candidate for this key position who’ll be able to lead the Church toward new ways of developing”.
Architect turns 67,000 Lego pieces into Vatican City State
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Lego architect Rocco Buttliere had three months, which definitely gave him a running start over Julius Caesar.
Working quietly in his Chicago-area home during the lull of the pandemic in 2020, Mr Buttliere cobbled together 67,000 tiny, plastic Lego pieces to create an improbably realistic 3D replica of Vatican City State.
The 1:650 scale model is so faithful to the cobblestones shaded by Bernini’s colonnade that it even includes a tiny red tile marking the top-floor window of the Apostolic Palace from which Pope Francis recites the Angelus each Sunday.
For a kid who began playing with his two older brothers’ LEGO sets as child and who even brought his Legos to college while pursuing a degree in architecture, those 800 hours he spent last year were the cornerstones of one his greatest artistic achievements.
Guinean bishops express concerns after coup
Catholic bishops in Guinea criticised the country’s September 5 military coup and called for the unconditional release of deposed President Alpha Condé as well as all those arrested with him.
“The conference expresses its deep concern for the political developments that have taken place in the Republic of Guinea following the coup d’état of September 5, 2021, and for their consequences on regional peace and stability and condemns, with the utmost force, the military coup,” the bishops said in a statement September 8.
The regional Economic Community of West African States, commonly known as ECOWAS, suspended Guinea from membership after the coup and has threatened economic sanctions if the military does not release Mr Condé, 83.
Lebanon’s Catholic schools face ‘crisis with empty pockets’
At the start of a new academic year, uncertainty clouds the future of Catholic schools in Lebanon.
Amid the country’s economic meltdown, Catholic schools have exhausted their resources, and their future is at risk. Of Lebanon’s 330 Catholic schools, educating nearly 200,000 students, 80% of the schools are under the risk of closing, said Melkite Father Youssef Nasr, secretary-general of Catholic schools in Lebanon.
“We are facing this crisis with empty pockets,” Fr Nasr told CNS.
“We are under tremendous pressure.”
In-school learning in Lebanon has been disrupted for two years, first by nationwide protests that swept the country in October 2019, followed by Covid-19 lockdown measures.