Catholics a security threat. (News in Brief: Russia).

Moscow -- In November 2002, C.L, published a troubling report on the escalation of clerical expulsions, pp. 2930 and the condition of Catholic-Orthodox relations in the Russian federation. The dispute over canonical territory following the re-establishment of four new dioceses in Russia in February 2001, led to the expulsion, or denial of reentry to the country for several clerics including Bishop Jerzy Mazur of Irkutsk. More recently, three more priests have been expelled from the St. Petersburg area.

While these events seem to have been motivated by the Orthodox Church's insecurity about its position in the new Russian order, they also have official backing. A December 6, 2002, document, prepared for the Ministry of Nationalities and Migration (although not officially acknowledged by them) cast a backward glance to the old Communist era when minority believers were looked on as enemies of the state. Top of the list of threats to national security are the Catholics, followed by Protestants, then by a group which includes Satanists and Jehovah's Witnesses. Catholics evidently headed the list because not only are their clerics foreign-born, but they also owe allegiance to an "international organization" based in a separate sovereign state (with a voice at the U.N. no less).

Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz (Moscow Archdiocese) has expressed his incredulity at such interpretations. He himself has been under fire from the Orthodox patriarchate, whose bureaucrats have petitioned Rome for his removal as a condition for renewing dialogue. To date, the Vatican has not given in to this pressure.

Father Thomas Grysa, the Holy See's temporary representative in Russia (Archbishop Giorgio Zur has been transferred to Austria), testily stated that Catholic bishops are not appointed, or replaced, by "leaders of other Churches." He also characterized the establishment of Catholic dioceses as "irreversible."

In the meantime, at a Porto, Portugal, meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, registered a protest at these violations of religious liberty in Russia, as well as in other countries. Noting that religious believers can become "victims of an intolerable discrimination promoted by the law," he stated that the clergy expulsions were particularly grave in that they violated agreements which Russia had endorsed as an OSCE member.

The Pope, too, has appealed to Russia to respect religious freedom within its borders. He received a Christmas greeting from Patriarch Alexy II, suggesting that they renew "fraternal contacts," and returned a message of peace at the Eastern Churches' Christmas on January 7. Spokesmen for the Moscow Patriarchate, however, have opined that Alexy's greeting was merely a formal gesture (Zenit, Tablet, and Prairie Messenger).

Meanwhile, the Conventual Franciscan (Friars Minor) of Moscow libelled last fall by the local media for allegedly running a prostitution ring, continue with their work of feeding needy children, sheltering the homeless, and caring for the abandoned elderly in the city and in other locations throughout Russia. The two news outlets responsible for the smear have since been censured by a local panel on journalistic ethics.

N.B. Patriarch Alexy, who also heads the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, may visit the Ukraine later this year. Cardinal Lubomy Husar, Eastern-rite Catholic Archbishop of Lviv, has expressed his pleasure at this announcement and his hopes that the visit will have "positive effects." In recent years schisms have arisen within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, resulting in three separate groups of believers, one adhering to Moscow, and two with Ukrainian patriarchs.