HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------Russia denies it persecutes Vatican cleric
MOSCOW - Moscow defended on Tuesday its
decision to refuse a senior Vatican cleric entry into the country, and denied it
was persecuting Russia's tiny Catholic minority.
In a move which further
soured relations between the Holy See and Russia's dominant Orthodox Church,
Polish bishop Jerzy Mazur was declared persona non grata on Friday as he arrived
in Moscow bound for his diocese in Irkutsk, eastern Siberia.
Mazur, who
was put on a plane back to Warsaw, has worked in Irkutsk since 1988.
Warsaw summoned Moscow's ambassador to the Foreign Ministry on Monday to
demand an explanation. But the Polish administration, run by secular
ex-communists, stopped short of issuing a public rebuke.
In a statement
Alexander Yakovenko, spokesman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, accused the media
of misreporting the row as a clash between Russia and Poland and criticised talk
that Polish-Catholics were being "persecuted".
"We must stress that the
actions taken in connection with Jerzy Mazur have no relation whatsoever with
his nationality," he said, adding that Mazur had been dealt with in strict
accordance with Russian law.
"The basis for the relevant decision are
the serious complaints about the activities of the Vatican's senior
representative," Yakovenko said. He did not elaborate.
An Italian priest
who has served near Moscow for 12 years was blacklisted on April 12, and the two
incidents have fuelled suspicions in Catholic circles that the authorities are
backing the Orthodox Church in its dispute with the Vatican.
Ties
between Rome and Russia's dominant Orthodox Church are at a low ebb due to
accusations from Moscow that Catholics are poaching Orthodox faithful.
Although many of Russia's 143 million citizens are nominally Orthodox,
the lifting of the ban on religious practice has seen a variety of faiths and
cults flourish - to the consternation of the Orthodox leadership, which won
strict legal controls on the activities of rival faiths.
But its fears
of losing parishioners were fuelled by the Vatican's decision in February -
against the Foreign Ministry's advice - to create four full-blown dioceses in
Russia to serve Russia's 600,000 Catholics, among them many descendants from
Poles deported to Siberia in World War Two.
Poor relations have seen the
Orthodox Church effectively block a proposed visit to Russia by Polish-born Pope
John Paul, even though it has the backing of President Vladimir Putin.
The Pope, 81 and in failing health, is widely credited with undermining
communist rule in the Soviet bloc, and is still regarded with suspicion in some
Russian quarters. A long history of conflict between Catholic Poland and
Orthodox Russia has further complicated chances of reconciliation.
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