State Dept demands Belarus authorities let Catholic head into the country

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Photo: media.voltron.voanews.com

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded that the Belarusian authorities allow the re-entry of the head of Belarusian Catholics, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk-Mogilev, who was not allowed to cross the border of the Republic the day before.

“Belarusian authorities should allow the re-entry of Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, so he can tend to his flock during the ongoing protests,” Pompeo wrote on his Twitter.

The head of the State Department stressed that the leader of the Belarusian Catholics and all Belarusian people "must be allowed to exercise their fundamental freedoms, including freedom to worship."

As the UOJ reported, on August 31, 2020, Belarusian border guards did not allow the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, who was returning from Poland, into the country. The next day, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that Abp. Kondrusiewicz "received certain tasks" in Poland, and therefore he was blocked from entering the republic.

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