RFE/RL
- 25 April 2002
Posted 25 April 2002 on RELIGIOSCOPE
Earlier
this month, Russian authorities barred two Catholic priests
-- who worked in Russia and had valid visas -- from entering
the country. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church
and some Russian politicians say they believe Catholic "expansionism" threatens Russia. The Vatican says Catholics are subject to
discrimination in Russia and that the Orthodox Church does
not want to treat all religions equally.
Last
week, Russian authorities barred Jerzy Mazur, the Catholic
Bishop of Saint Joseph's diocese in the Siberian city of Irkutsk,
from entering Russia. Mazur, a Pole, heads the Irkutsk diocese,
the world's largest Catholic diocese. Mazur had earlier made
several attempts to receive Russian citizenship but the requests
were denied.
Earlier
this month, Italian Stefano Caprio, pastor of two Catholic
parishes in the Russian cities of Vladimir and Ivanovo, was
also barred from re-entering the country.
In
both cases, the clergymen said they possessed valid visas
that were revoked by Russian border officials. No explanations
were given.
Relations
between the Catholic and the Russian Orthodox churches have
never been good, but they worsened after Pope John Paul visited
Kazakhstan and Ukraine last year and after the Vatican established
four dioceses in Russia in February.
Two-thirds
of Russia's 144 million people describe themselves as Orthodox
and about 600,000 as Catholics. Many Russian Catholics are
descendents of Poles, Lithuanians, and Germans who lived in
the territory of the former Soviet Union and were exiled to
Siberia. Eighty-five percent of Catholic priests in Russia
are not Russian citizens.
Igor
Kovalevski is general-secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference
of Russia. He told RFE/RL that the Russian government overreacted
to the founding of the Catholic dioceses: "After four
dioceses were established (in Russia), an anti-Catholic campaign
began. I would dare to call it hysteria."
Kovalevski
said some politicians and non-governmental organizations have
violated Russian laws in their campaign against the Catholic
Church. Kovalevski said there were several rallies that took
place almost at the doors of Catholic churches. However, he
said he hopes that a way out of this crisis will be found,
as there are no grounds to justify talk about "Catholic
expansion" in Russia.
Igor
Vyzhanov is an official in the Department for External Relations
of the Moscow Patriarchate. He dismisses the claim that anti-Catholic
hysteria is under way in Russia. He told RFE/RL that he doesn't
know why the two Catholic clergymen were prevented from entering
Russia and that the Russian Orthodox Church had nothing to
do with the matter: "Recent events were caused by
the actions of the Catholic Church itself. The Catholic Church
maybe tried to act as defiantly toward the Russian state as
it used to act toward the Orthodox Church."
He
said the arrogance of the Catholic Church sparked the anti-Catholic
demonstrations. He said this arrogance is illustrated by the
fact that the Catholic Church established the four dioceses
in Russia without consulting the Russian Orthodox Church or
Russian authorities. He said the Russian Orthodox Church is
not going to do anything to help the Catholic Church in Russia
find a way out of its current conflicts in Russia because
the Catholic Church itself has created them.
Geraldine
Fagan works in Moscow for the British-based Keston Institute,
which monitors religious freedom. She said there have been
several more violations of Catholic rights in Russia recently: "In Pskov, the local authorities halted the construction
of the Catholic church after they received complaints about
its construction from local Orthodox bishops."
She
said that in Magadan, the local authorities are trying to
close a Catholic parish. The authorities say the priest is
a foreigner and does not have a residence permit. In Saratov,
an Irish Catholic priest has been warned that his residence
permit expires in May and that he will not be allowed to be
a parish priest any longer.
Fagan
says many problems exist because the Russian Orthodox Church
considers Russia to be its "canonical territory" and believes that no other church has the right to form dioceses
there. Neither the Catholic Church nor any other church, for
that matter, accepts this principle.
Fagan
says the Russian Orthodox Church also believes it has the
right to approve visits to Russia by other religious figures
and that it complained that Pope John Paul did not receive
such permission before visiting Ukraine.
Tensions
are growing. This Sunday, the People's Party of Russia plans
to organize rallies in 30 Russian cities to protest the Catholic
Church's activities in Russia. Gennady Raikov is the leader
of the People's Party. He also leads a Duma faction called
Narodny Deputat (People's Deputy). Raikov said earlier this
week that Catholic expansionism threatens Russia's spiritual
heritage.
Raikov's
spokesman, Vladimir Kiriuchin, told RFE/RL that he believes
the protests will be directed not so much against the Catholic
Church but in support of the country's other main religions: "We will rally in support of Russian statehood, the
Orthodox Church, and in support of the main confessions in
Russia -- namely Islam, Judaism and Buddhism."
Kiriuchin
also said the main problem is the Vatican's decision to upgrade
the apostolic administrations in Russia without consulting
Russian authorities.
The
Keston Institute's Fagan says it is not clear how the conflict
between the two churches will end. She said Russian President
Vladimir Putin could take steps to resolve the problem before
it gets out of hand.
Valentinas
Mite
