MOSCOW - The leader of Russia's Catholics said the Church was being subjected to an "organized campaign" of harassment and discrimination and urged defense of religious freedom in Russia.
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz published an open letter Monday calling attention to what he termed a serious threat to religious freedom. He said that numerous aggressively anti-Catholic rallies had been held outside Catholic churches and that Russian law enforcement officials had failed to respond. The next such rally is scheduled for April 28 and will be held in several sites across the country, he said.
Kondrusiewicz also protested the banning of a Catholic priest, Rev. Stefano Caprio, from re-entering Russia. Passport officers at a Moscow airport ripped Caprio's multiple-entry visa from his passport as he was leaving for Italy earlier this month, and officials confirmed that he was on a blacklist of foreigners who would not be allowed into Russia. No explanation for the ban has been given.
The archbishop said lawmakers were discussing a bill protecting Russia's so-called traditional religions: Orthodox Christianity, which draws the allegiance of about two-thirds of Russia's 144 million inhabitants, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. He said such a bill could "lead to dividing society and violating the constitutional norm on the equality of all religious associations before the law."
"All of this leads to the perception that an organized campaign is being conducted against the Catholic Church," Kondrusiewicz wrote.
The archbishop did not speculate directly on who was behind the campaign, but he quoted an appeal to President Vladimir Putin from an Orthodox Church archbishop opposed to construction of a Catholic Church in the northern city of Pskov as saying "do not offend our people with a Catholic presence."
Kondrusiewicz's letter came amid an upsurge in tensions between the Orthodox and Catholics. Earlier this year, the Vatican upgraded its presence in Russia to full-fledged dioceses, infuriating the dominant Russian Orthodox Church, which views the Catholic presence in Russia as an attempt to convert Orthodox believers. The Orthodox hierarchy has accused Catholics of aggressive proselytizing in the former Soviet Union and taking control of property that rightly belongs to the Orthodox.
Orthodox leaders have also objected vociferously to Pope John Paul II's visits to neighboring former Soviet republics, and rejected his overtures for a visit to Russia to advance his campaign for reconciliation between the two estranged branches of Christianity. Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II condemned a video linkup last month between Moscow's Catholic Cathedral and a Vatican prayer service led by the pope as "an invasion" of Russia.
Russia's secular leaders have been less adamant than the Orthodox leadership in objecting to Catholic activities — sometimes seen by ordinary people as well as Orthodox leaders as an unwarranted foreign influence in Russia — and Putin even said earlier this year that he was eager to invite John Paul to Moscow. However, he added that the visit would hinge on a Vatican-Orthodox settlement, virtually giving the Orthodox hierarchy a veto over an invitation.