VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis on Sunday accepted the resignation of Archbishop Minsk, who had been blocked for months by Belarusian authorities from returning to his homeland after criticizing repression against anti-government protesters there.
Monsignor Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, head of the Minsk-Mohilev diocese, returned to Belarus only on December 24, just in time to celebrate the Christmas Mass. It was almost four months after his entrance was blocked as he traveled back after a religious visit to Poland. . The stalemate ended last month after Francis sent a former Vatican ambassador to Belarus to Minsk to meet with the country’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko.
Church rules require bishops to resign before they turn 75, and the Vatican said Kondrusiewicz, who turned 75 on Sunday, did so. The pope immediately allowed him to resign. Popes often allow bishops to stay long, even years, after their 75th birthday.
The day after Kondrusiewicz tried to return to Belarus, Lukashenko accused him of “entering politics and shooting believers.” Weeks of massive protests have seen Belarusian citizens flooded the streets in daily protests demanding Lukashenko’s resignation.
The president’s victory after the August 9 election was widely seen as fraudulent. Protests continued to defy a brutal police crackdown that detained more than 30,000 protesters.
Francis has for the time being appointed an apostolic administrator to lead the archdiocese, Monsignor Kazimierz Wielikosielec, who serves as auxiliary bishop in the Pinsk diocese.