{"id":202245,"date":"2026-09-02T23:04:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202245\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T23:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:05:00","slug":"pacobut-gets-pope-leos-blessing-in-vatican-firm-on-returning-to-belarus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/202245\/","title":{"rendered":"Pa\u010dobut gets Pope Leo\u2019s blessing in Vatican, firm on returning to Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n Andrej Pa\u010dobut \n <\/div>\n \n
\n (senat.gov.pl)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

September 2, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Belarusian journalist and prominent Polish minority activist Andrej Pa\u010dobut (Andrzej Poczobut) had a meeting audience with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican, announcing afterward that he had asked for the pontiff\u2019s blessing and would soon return to Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with Polish news agency PAP<\/em>, the former political prisoner, who was released and deported to Poland four months ago, said that he had asked for a papal blessing for Belarus, for his family, and for the Union of Poles in Belarus during a brief conversation following the general audience at the Vatican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut said that he felt \u201can inner calm\u201d after the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSoon I will be returning to Belarus, and tension had been building inside of me,\u201d Poczobut said. \u201cI\u2019mvery grateful to the pontiff for the calm I feel now. The past months have been very intense. Now I\u2019m at peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He presented Pope Leo XIV with a copy of the Icon of Our Lady of the Congregation, a 16th-century image of the Virgin Mary on display in the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Hrodna, and asked him to bless another icon that will be taken to Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about the current situation of Poles in Belarus and whether anything has changed in the four months since his release, Pa\u010dobut tersely replied that it is \u201cnot easy.\u201d \u201cIn the near future we will see what it is really like,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut said that he is working on a book because he feels an inner need to tell his story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u010dobut acknowledged that he had been traumatized by his latest prison experience. \u201cUnfortunately, the scars remain, but I\u2019m coping with them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 1, Polish Deputy Interior Minister Czes\u0142aw Mroczek warned that Pa\u010dobut would face a huge risk should he return to Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mroczek said that he respected Pa\u010dobut\u2019s personal decision to go back but acknowledged that his return would put Poland in a difficult position in its relations with the regime in Minsk. After many years in prison, Pa\u010dobut risks ending up there again, while Warsaw considers itself obliged to protect him, Mroczek added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His comment came a few days after Pa\u010dobut vowed to go back to Belarus despite the risk of politically-motivated persecution. Earlier Pa\u010dobut said that he would return no later than September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrej Pa\u010dobut, known as a contributor to Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em>, was arrested in March 2021 on what was widely believed trumped-up charges. In February 2023, Judge D\u017amitryj Bubien\u010dyk of the Hrodna Regional Court sentenced him to eight years in prison after finding him guilty of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions. Human rights defenders recognized him as a political prisoner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian authorities freed Pa\u010dobut on April 28, 2026 and deported him to Poland. The release came after John Coale, the US special envoy for Belarus, met with Polish President Karol Nawrocki and Foreign Minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski in Warsaw on April 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 3, Nawrocki presented Pa\u010dobut with Poland\u2019s highest state award, the Order of the White Eagle. In 2025, the European Parliament granted him the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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