Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Paul Richard Gallagher is scheduled to pay a working visit to Belarus from September 11-14, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said on Friday
MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th September, 2020) Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Paul Richard Gallagher is scheduled to pay a working visit to Belarus from September 11-14, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
"From September 11-14, 2020, the working visit of Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher is going to take place," the ministry said on its website.
Gallagher is scheduled to meet with Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei on Friday, according to the press release.
The visit of the Holy See's top diplomat will take place amid an ongoing controversy around the leader of Belarusian Catholics, Archbishop of Minsk and Mahilyow Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz.
A citizen of Belarus, Kondrusiewicz was banned from returning home from Poland, where he traveled for work in late August. Prior to that, the religious official harshly criticized the Belarusian security forces for blocking the entrance to the Church of Saints Simon and Helena, also known as the Red Church, during the pro-opposition protests in Minsk. He also called on the Belarusian government to launch a dialogue with the protesters.
Last week, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Kondrusiewicz had been included in the joint no-entry list of people of Belarus and Russia. The Belarusian State Border Committee have refused to comment on the matter to Sputnik.
