Catholic priests face new pressures after nuncio departs Belarus

(OSV News) -- Clergy in Belarus are deleting their social media profiles to avoid arrest, according to church sources, as local parishes face pressure under a new religious law.

"With church communities required to re-register, all are vulnerable to new restrictions," explained Natallia Vasilevich, coordinator of the ecumenical Christian Vision organization, referencing a recent law that requires all parishes to reapply for legal status and restricts educational and missionary activity by churches.

"Priests can be arrested and see their parishes deprived of legal status, if they post or share anything deemed extremist. This is why they've been asked by their bishops to cease social media activity," the lay theologian said.

She spoke as two more senior clergy faced charges of distributing "extremist material" under Article 19:11 of Belarus's Code of Administrative Offenses.

In an OSV News interview, Vasilevich said official monitoring agencies had checked social media records as part of an independent media purge, often keeping screenshots, forcing many priests to close their accounts rather than spend time editing them.

She added that Catholic clergy were also impeded from discussing "personal and confessional problems" with parishioners, knowing their private telephone messages could be checked by police.

A number of organizations are inviting the faithful to pray for persecuted Christians throughout the month of November, as more than 365 million believers in Christ worldwide suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination, according to a 2024 report by the advocacy group Open Doors.

Belarus was placed on the 2024 World Watch List by Open Doors for the second time since 2023.

The pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need said in its country overview, "Most human rights, including religious freedom, are endangered due to the authoritarian nature of the government in Belarus."

A prominent lay Catholic confirmed that clergy had been warned not to criticize officials in Belarus, where the disputed August 2020 reelection of Alexander Lukashenko for his sixth term as president was followed by harsh repression and international sanctions.

"Sanctioning protests or questioning state actions in maintaining public order -- all of this, it's been made clear, is subject to checking," said Artiom Tkaczuk, a social worker now living in neighboring Poland.

"Although we may regret the times we're having to live through, I nevertheless remain full of hope as a believer. For Christians, there are no worse or better times -- just ever-present challenges, social injustices and human weaknesses."

Father Yuri Barauniou, rector of the Heart of Jesus Parish at Krulevshchina, near Vitebsk, was detained for 10 days in October for "storing and distributing extremist materials," while Father Andrei Keulich, head of the Mogilev deanery, was held a day later on the same charge at Gorki's Our Lady Parish.

In an Oct. 31 report, Christian Vision said an elderly Catholic pensioner, Emma Stepulenok, who was recently freed from a two-year jail sentence, had been charged during the same month, along with a Catholic history teacher from Uzmeny and two other female Catholics.

It added that Pyotr Rudkovsky, exiled Catholic former director of the Belarusan Strategic Studies Institute, had also been accused of "terrorist activity" after being sentenced in absentia to 11 years' imprisonment.

The report said 36 Roman and Greek Catholic clergy had been "subjected to ... persecution for political reasons" since 2020, alongside 21 Orthodox and 29 Protestant pastors.

Two Catholic priests have been recognized as political prisoners by the Belarusan rights group, Viasna, which was awarded the United Nations General Assembly's annual Human Rights Prize in December 2023.

Oblate Father Andrzej Juchniewicz, chairman of Major Superiors, Delegates and Representatives of Institutes and Societies of Apostolic Life in Belarus, has been detained since May 8 in connection with "actions on the internet." Meanwhile, 70-year-old Father Henrykh Akalatovich, from Valožyn, was detained in November 2023 for "treason against the state," and has since suffered a heart attack and undergone gastric cancer surgery.

Tkaczuk said he feared Western societies were "showing signs of fatigue" toward the Belarus "political crisis," adding that -- with new arrests made daily -- the country's Catholic church could do little to help Father Juchniewicz and other prisoners.

"While I'm sure these issues are discussed privately by the bishops, any public statements will always face a severe, immediate reaction," the lay Catholic told OSV News.

"The church hierarchy in Belarus appears to be sticking to a survival strategy to get through these hard times -- keeping their distance from the authorities and focusing on strictly religious activities," he said.

The Catholic Church makes up a 10th of the 9.4 million inhabitants of Belarus, a former Soviet republic, where 1,287 political prisoners are incarcerated as of Nov. 11, including Viasna's founder, Ales Bialiatski, who won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

Under the new Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations law, signed in December 2023 by Lukashenko, educational and missionary activity by churches is restricted, while all parishes must re-register by July 2025 or face liquidation.

Fears of new church restrictions follow the departure after a Sept. 15 farewell Mass of the Vatican's Croatian nuncio, Archbishop Ante Jozic.

Tkaczuk said he believed Archbishop Jozic had succeeded in "reassuring the authorities" while "helping the church find its way in a new reality" during his four years in Belarus.

"Although much remains concealed in the archives, he also worked for the release of political prisoners -- what his nunciature lacked was any warmth towards people," the lay Catholic told OSV News.

Vasilevich added that Catholic priests now languishing in jail were only "a few examples of many suffering people," adding that she counted on the international community to continue "sending strong messages daily" to Lukashenko's government, demanding an end to repression.

"The brutal images of war in Ukraine, with missiles devastating whole cities, has made Belarus's plight seem less important. But prisoners are suffering and dying here -- these aren't political matters, but issues of life, justice and dignity."

The spokesman for Belarus' Catholic bishops' conference, Father Yuri Sanko, did not respond to questions emailed Nov. 4 by OSV News.