The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko had a meeting with the Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Minsk-Mahilyow of the Catholic Church in Belarus Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz. The President declared that he is glad that there are good relations between the Catholic and Orthodox faiths. "It is very important for me and I will support it", the head of the state said.
During the meeting the Belarus leader also has underlined that the state «will continue to support the dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches». According to Alexander Lukashenko, It became a good tradition nowadays «to discuss essential problems with the leaders of one of the basic faiths, which is Catholicism».
«I think that it is a good signal to our society. But I don’t want this meeting to be just indicative; we should discuss concrete questions collected during the last year. We will talk also about the situation in the religious environment as a whole «, BelTA quotes the words of the President.
«I’d like to say, that your presence on Easter in the orthodox cathedral and our joint congratulation were adequately apprehended by the society», Alexander Lukashenko told the archbishop.
Kondrusiewicz thanked Lukashenko for his attitude to the Catholic faith
In turn, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz thanked the president of Belarus for his attitude to the Catholic, Orthodox and other faiths. «We should answer together to all modern calls, and our force will be bigger if we speak together», the archbishop noted.
Meanwhile, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz also informed that work on preparation the draught agreement between Belarus and the Holy See goes actively. According to the archbishop, he will also discuss with the Belarusian leader many other questions of interaction of the Catholic Church and the Belarusian state.
«It will be a question of the future of buildings of the Bernardines’ church and monastery, of allocation of the lands to build new churches. The Catholic church plans also to expand its participation in charitable projects», Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz informed.
The archbishop named the centre «Caritas» as an example of charity projects. The children with the oncological diseases undergo rehabilitation there. Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz thanked once again the state and Alexander Lukashenko for the help in restoration of ancient churches. «They are our common heritage», he said.
