"When I heard he was dead, I recalled the words of St Luke's Gospel, 'Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace' — he did everything he could for his country, and I thank God such people still exist," said the Moscow-based lay Catholic.

"The Catholic church in Russia doesn't speak out on sensitive issues — though we've been here for centuries, we still feel like we're in a ghetto, keeping quiet so no one will notice us. But I really hope memorial services will be held in other countries — that even the pope might join prayers in his memory."

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The priest, who asked not to be named, also dismissed President Vladimir Putin's threats of nuclear war as "just words".

"Although I'm not a military person, I don't think the Russian army could even use nuclear weapons — and if it did, this would be much more dangerous for Russia itself than anyone else," the unnamed priest said.

"People are certainly frightened here, particularly since Catholic parishioners and clergy could now be called up, beginning with those who've done military service. But I don't think there's much to fear from Putin, who's just coming out with words."

Street protests erupted in Russia after Putin's 21 September order for a national call-up of 300,000 reservists after setbacks in the Ukraine war.

The priest told Catholic News Service that students and young people had "reacted very emotionally" to the mobilisation order, with many debating its practical consequences.

"Some young Catholics have already left the country, and more are doing so now," the priest told CNS.

"The mass mobilisation will very much affect church life here, particularly since many Catholics are strongly against the war and won't want to take part. But those with military training up to age 50 may well have to go, while the order could soon be extended to others who haven't even done military service."

In his speech, Putin said his "special military operation" was continuing to liberate Ukraine's eastern Donbas region from a "neo-Nazi regime".

The Russian leader commented that his country would use "all means at its disposal," including nuclear weapons, to resist attempts by Western countries to "weaken, divide and ultimately destroy" it, while aggressively imposing "their will and pseudo-values".

He added that the partial mobilisation would initially concern "only military reservists" with "specific occupational specialities and corresponding experience," who would be given additional training for active service.

The Russian priest told CNS most protesters had previously been against the war and that most soldiers had been recruited from Russia's more remote regions.

The priest told CNS that a "much larger group" of previously undecided citizens could also come out in opposition once the draft gained momentum and the war was "brought closer to people in the main cities".

Sources

CruxNow

"Being a relatively small community, the Catholic Church in Russia is challenged with making a positive, constructive contribution as an integral part of society," says Bishop Nikolai Dubinin.

For the past century clergy from other countries have been keeping the Catholic Church in Russia alive, he says.

"As a result of Soviet-era persecution, our Church was virtually destroyed, so clergy from different countries came here to help.

"But it's taken almost 30 years, among native Russians who grew up in our local Church and took the path of priestly ministry, for a local bishop to be chosen."

Although he's the first Russian-born Catholic bishop in 100 years, Dubinin explains there were many before the 1917 revolution.

"I'm the first only one in the Church's recent history," the 47-year says.

The Catholic Church sees its mission as being to "sanctify" Russian society, he says.

"Our Church is open to all people. If a person comes, looking for God and truth and finds them in our Church, we will never close the door."

At present ties with Russia's predominant Orthodox church, which frequently complained of Catholic proselytism and encroachment in the 1990s, are "quite fruitful and good", despite "stereotypes and misunderstandings."

"There are always differences that can be brought to the fore and provide reasons for disagreement. But it seems to me there's nothing insurmountable now - no sharp conflicts and confrontations, thank God."

The Church has no ambition to "Catholicise the country. Nor are there "serious grounds" for accusing it of "proselytising," Dubinin says.

"If we understand proselytism as the unjust attraction and enticement of believers by deception, with money and so on, then there has never been anything like this in our Church, and I hope there never will be. We did and do not have any intention of Catholicising Russia."

The Catholic Church, currently making up less than half a percent of Russia's population of 144.5 million, was savagely repressed under Soviet rule in 1917-1991, losing almost all its clergy and churches.

As the country's first auxiliary bishop, Dubinin will serve northwestern areas of the Moscow-based Mother of God archdiocese, including Kaliningrad and St Petersburg, where he previously ran a publishing house and taught at the Church's seminary.

Dubinin is a Conventual Franciscan who was ordained in 2000 after training in Poland. He says his family upbringing, with a Catholic mother and Orthodox father, had "conditioned" his life path.

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: AsiaNews