09/21/2020, 10.26
BELARUS - RUSSIA - VATICAN
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Kondrusiewicz appeals to the nuncio, Lukashenko insults women

by Vladimir Rozanskij

Message from the Archbishop of Minsk to Msgr. Ante Jozic: "We are witnesses of bloodshed on the streets and squares of our cities ... We need your support, as the Holy See representative, and we look forward to your arrival in our country". Police unleash violence against opposition marches, led by women. Lukashenko claims Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and the West want to reduce Belarus "to a state similar to Venezuela". The igumena Gavriila (Glukhova), superior of the patriarchal convent of the Mother of God in Grodno, terms the opposition "a crowd of idiots".

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Catholic Metropolitan of Minsk-Mogilev, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, has congratulated the new apostolic nuncio to Belarus, Msgr. Ante Jozic, recently ordained bishop and about to begin his mission in Minsk.

The metropolitan is still caught between Poland and Lithuania, unable to return to his homeland.

Addressing his fellow prelate as "the pope's representative in Belarus, in an extremely difficult period for the life of our country", he points out that "never before in the history of our peaceful people has brother raised his hand against his brother, and now there are victims”.

The archbishop expresses all his bitterness for the events in the country: "We are witnesses of bloodshed on the streets and squares of our cities". In the message published by naviny.by, he also highlights "a profound division in our society, which could also provoke a civil war".

At the same time, Kondrusiewicz (photo 2) observes that the current socio-political crisis in Belarus "has given a further boost to the strengthening of the already good relations between the representatives of the various confessions and religions, in the spirit of fraternity and solidarity".

He added that "the Catholic Church from the beginning of the crisis has invited the parties in conflict to a sincere dialogue, to resolve the problems on a peaceful path". This is why the addressing the nuncio, metropolitan states "we need your support, as representative of the Holy See, and we look forward to your arrival in our country".

The same Msgr. Jozic made an appeal to the Belarusians, speaking in Russian, immediately after his episcopal consecration (photo 3): "From this moment on I promise to offer the utmost commitment to collaboration among all, and I ask you to pray intensely for the solution of the problems in a peaceful way, through dialogue and solidarity, avoiding any form of violence”.

In the meantime, the protests reached the 41st day, with the great march yesterday, 20 September (photo 1), in which the police violence was repeated. The processions are increasingly led by women, precisely to avoid acts of force, even if the masked men of Lukashenko seem to have no scruples in hitting women.

Indeed, the president has tried to deny the favor that the female half of the country has for the opposition, led by women, by organizing a counter-demonstration of women who support him. Several thousand women arrived at the Minsk-Arena last September 17, brought by numerous buses from all over the country, to chant slogans in favour of Lukashenko, but above all attracted by the famous Russian melodic singer Nikolaj Baskov, hired for the occasion.

The Forum-concert was opened by the Belarusian minister of health Elena Bogdan, and in the end there was the appearance of the batka Lukashenko, in a riot of red-green flags, the official ones of Soviet memory. The women expressed their disapproval of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, shouting "Sveta, you stole our summer!" and “Go home to cook meatballs!”.

Lukashenko exploited the opportunity to announce that he has decided to close all borders with the West, that is, with Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, leaving the door open only to Mother Russia.

He maintains that the surrounding countries have organized "a series of attacks on Belarus, to reduce us to the state of Venezuela, and they found their Guaidò, or rather a Guaidaccia", concluded the president, directly insulting Tikhanovskaya.

At the Forum even the words of a nun, the Igumena Gavriila (Glukhova), superior of the patriarchal convent of the Mother of God in Grodno (photo 4), who called the opponents to Lukashenko "a crowd of idiots, for whom we must pray ".

From Lithuania, where she is in exile, the moral winner of the elections of 9 August defined the decision to close the borders "a new break with reality", and called for immediate intervention by other nations, because Lukashenko's actions "contradict all international norms".

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