Vladimir Makei, the Belarus Minister of Foreign Affairs, reiterated the invitation during a meeting with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, who is the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States.

Makei told Gallagher, who was visiting Belarus, that the invitation remained open despite tensions between the local Catholic Church and the government.

"Your visit proves that Belarus and the Holy See have special relations of mutual understanding and trust. We are satisfied with the dynamics of the development of contacts at the high and highest levels."

Just days earlier on 31 August, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, who is the leader of the Catholic Church in Belarus and a citizen of the country, was blocked from returning home after a visit to Poland.

Makei says Belarus and the Holy See enjoyed a high level of cooperation at the United Nations because of shared values.

He thanked the Vatican for supporting the Group of Friends United against Human Trafficking, an association of UN member states established at the initiative of Belarus in 2010.

"We would like to develop and strengthen our cooperation in all areas," Makei says.

The Holy See press office says Gallagher's aim in visiting the country intended "to express the attention and closeness of the Holy Father to the Catholic Church and to the whole country."

Gallagher's programme included "meetings with the civil authorities and those in charge of the Catholic Church."

The Eastern European country has been rocked by protests following a disputed presidential election on 9 August.

President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory with 80 percent of the vote - a victory disputed by his opposition.

Amid ongoing protests, one presidential hopeful has fled the country and the authorities have detained opposition leaders, provoking an international outcry.

Kondrusiewicz, the president of the country's Catholic bishops' conference, spoke out in defense of protesters after they were targeted by police following the election.

This week a Sunday Mass broadcast from a Cathedral in Minsk was taken off the airwaves of the largest nationwide radio channel in Belarus.

Bishop Yuri Kasabutsky, of the Minsk-Mogilev archdiocese, says the sudden cessation of the broadcasts shows that the authorities are trying to "put pressure" on the Church.

On Friday, Catholics in Minsk held a city-wide Stations of the Cross to pray for Kondrusiewicz's return home.

The website of the Catholic Church in Belarus reported Sept. 11 that Kasabutsky addressed participants, saying: "We will follow this path of the Savior for the freedom of the Church in Belarus, for the return of our Metropolitan, for justice, goodness, and peace in our country."

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Vatican News

On Monday Catholic Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk-Mohilev was attempting to enter Belarus from Poland.

Although the border guards "behaved very correctly," their decision to refuse him entry to his homeland was "absolutely incomprehensible" and contravened the law, Kondrusiewicz says.

"No explanation was offered. Even though I'm a citizen of Belarus I was told I was banned from entering Belarus, nothing more."

Bishop Yuri Kasabutsky from the Minsk-Mohilev archdiocese, says Kondrusiewicz was returning from a business trip.

A pastoral letter Kondrusiewicz had written warning people that the nation's worsening crisis could spill into civil war had been read out in churches the day before he was barred from re-entrering Belarus.

In it, the archbishop said society was "spiritually ill" in Belarus.

The Belarus archbishop also said he had arranged for a statue of St. Michael the Archangel to be carried through the church's four dioceses in a bid to settle current conflicts.

"Our motherland is experiencing an unprecedented sociopolitical crisis, deepening day by day — in peace-loving and tolerant Belarus, brother has raised his hand against brother, resulting in bloodshed and many injuries."

"The difficult economic situation is deeply alarming, and we are threatened with international isolation, while the schism of society increases. … Increasingly, one can hear that the threat of civil war is becoming real, something none of us imagined a few months ago."

For more than two weeks, Belarusian security forces have been confronting demonstrators protesting over the 26-year rule of President Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed to win a disputed presidential election on 9 August.

Kondrusiewicz has spoken in defense of the protesters following the disputed presidential election.

On 19 August he prayed outside of a prison where the detained protesters were reported to have been tortured.

Last week - although he was out of the country at the time - he demanded an investigation into reports that riot police blocked the doors of a Catholic church in Minsk while clearing away protesters from a nearby square.

The incident at the church occurred on 26 August after police had dispersed protesters in a nearby square, about 100 of them took refuge in the church to escape.

Police blockaded the entrances for several hours and eventually arrested several people who left the church.

"Blocking the entry and exit of people contradicts the right of citizens for freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed by the Belarus Constitution. Moreover, it insults the feelings of believers and goes beyond the laws of mankind and God," Kondrusiewicz's auxiliary bishops said at the time.

Pope Francis appealed for justice and dialogue in Belarus in his Angelus address on 10 August.

"I carefully follow the post-electoral situation in this country and appeal for dialogue, the rejection of violence and respect for justice and law. I entrust all Belarusians to the protection of Our Lady, Queen of Peace," he said.

Source

• Catholic News Service
• The Tablet
• Catholic News Agency
• Catholic news Agency
• Image: The Tablet