Keston
News Service - 22 February 2002
Over
the past ten days different representatives of the Russian
state have adopted varied positions in response to the Catholic
Church's decision to upgrade its four existing ecclesiastical
structures in Russia into dioceses.
On
12 February the Press and Information Department of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in which it claimed "not to doubt the right of the Catholic Church to organise
itself in accordance with canonical norms." However,
the statement went on, when informed about the Vatican's decision
"through diplomatic channels" on 4 February, the
ministry "recommended that the Holy See refrain from
re-organising its apostolic administrations into dioceses
at the present moment and settle the matter with the Russian
Orthodox Church." The motivation for this recommendation,
the statement alleges, is that the issue "primarily concerns
interchurch relations and could become the cause of their
serious complication."
On
19 February Stepan Medvedko, adviser to the Committee for
Religious and Social Organisations of the lower house of parliament,
the Duma, confirmed to Keston News Service that on 15 February
the Duma passed a motion instructing his Committee to request
information from the foreign ministry on "violations
of freedom of religion" committed by the Catholic Church
in the former Soviet Union and to review "the situation
which has arisen in connection with the active proselytism
of the Catholic Church in traditionally Orthodox areas."
The motion, according to Medvedko, was passed with a clear
majority of approximately two-thirds. Proposing the motion,
according to RIA Novosti, Duma vice-chairman Vladimir Zhirinovsky
additionally called on the foreign ministry "not to give
visas to representatives of the Vatican in connection with
the heightened circumstances and their wilful actions in changing
the status of Catholic dioceses."
On
18 February Aleksandr Dugin, adviser to the Duma on geopolitical
issues, reportedly alleged that the Vatican's decision to
form fully-fledged dioceses in Russia was made under pressure
from Washington. Since the move constituted "a colossal
anti-Orthodox and therefore anti-Russian step," explained
Dugin, it would upset the recent rapprochement between Russia
and Europe and hence prevent the formation of "a new
political bloc in which America's role would be weakened."
Speaking
at a press conference held in RIA Novosti on 15 February,
the head of the Catholic Church in Russia, Archbishop Tadeusz
Kondrusiewicz, characterised the Russian foreign ministry's
12 February statement as "incomprehensible" and
"late". Speaking to Keston, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz
said that the ministry's reaction when the papal nuncio to
Russia, Archbishop Giorgio Zur, informed them of the Catholic
Church's plans on 4 February was "fine" ("normal'no")
and "completely different" from the 12 February
statement.
On
19 February Vladimir Ashurkov, an official at the Press and
Information Department of the foreign ministry, said that
he was unable to add anything to the 12 February statement. "We issued what we considered was expedient," he
told Keston. While aware of the 15 February Duma motion, Ashurkov
declined to make any comment regarding it. On 13 February
NTV news agency reported another foreign ministry official,
Yevgeni Voronin, as maintaining that the statement "simply
set out the ministry's position regarding the question of
dioceses, since the Vatican is not only the head of the Roman
Catholic Church, but constitutes a state with which Russia
has normal diplomatic relations." (Relations between
Russia and the Vatican are in fact only at the level of "working
contacts", not full diplomatic relations.)
Referring
to the 12 February statement on the 14 February edition of
the staunchly patriotic television programme "Russky
Dom", presenter Aleksandr Krutov maintained that, by
stipulating that the dioceses issue was interconfessional,
the ministry was alleging that the Vatican had not violated
Russian law, "but the Vatican state has set up its structures
on our territory, it is both ridiculous and sad to hear state
officials using such language."
Interviewed
on a further, 17 February edition of the programme, the Russian
Orthodox Church's Metropolitan Sergi of Solnechnogorsk spoke
of his hope that "every believer will make a constructive
contribution towards the task of non-acceptance of Catholicism".
In this task, he continued, "a very large - foundation
- stone" should be formed by the position of the state.
Krutov responded that in this regard the foreign ministry
had "initially hesitated: with varied and incomprehensible
statements," and called upon the state to take a stand
against the "spiritual expansion of Catholicism"
in the interests of self-preservation. The Metropolitan was
in full agreement: "If [the state] misses the chance
currently open to it then it could end in tragedy," he
told Russky Dom viewers.
Speaking
to Keston on 19 February, Medvedko commented that the dioceses
issue demanded the attention of the state authorities as it
could potentially lead to serious conflict. While criticising
the Vatican's moves from an ethical point of view, he acknowledged
that it had acted within the law. In Medvedko's view, the
issue was one of interconfessional rather than church-state
relations, so that it was "best for the state to take
up a neutral position." When Keston pointed out that
the Vatican was also a state, Medvedko maintained that in
the given situation it had acted as a religious centre: "After
all, they didn't re-form an embassy here." (Geraldine
Fagan)
Source:
Keston
Institute <http://www.keston.org>
