December 24, Pozirk. Belarus will open the embassy to the Holy See before September, the government has announced.
The Council of Ministers’ Directive No 988 published on the National Legal Internet Portal on Christmas Eve authorized the finance ministry to provide funding for this purpose.
Alaksandar Łukašenka may seek assistance from the Vatican in improving ties with the West, some political analysts speculated.
The position of Apostolic Nuncio to Belarus has been vacant since September after the departure of Archbishop Ante Jozić, who had represented the Holy See in Minsk since 2020.
Catholicism is the second-largest Christian denomination in Belarus. About 1.5 million Catholics live in the country, including more than 10,000 Greek Catholics.
After the 2020 presidential election, the relationship between the state and the Catholic Church deteriorated as many priests and faithful denounced police brutality and repression. Some clerics were arrested or forced to flee the country.
In February 2022, Russia started a full-scale war against Ukraine in which the Belarusian authorities supported the Kremlin. The Vatican has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and peace talks.
