CNA Staff, Jan 26, 2021 / 06:10 am
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said at a farewell Mass on Sunday that the Church would remain a source of strength for Catholics in Belarus despite a change in leadership.
The departing archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev also promised that he would remain an active bishop at the Jan. 24 Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Name of Mary in the capital, Minsk.
Pope Francis accepted Kondrusiewicz's resignation on Jan. 3, his 75th birthday, shortly after the archbishop was permitted to return to Belarus after a four-month enforced exile.
"Changing a bishop after he reaches the age of 75 is a normal thing," Kondrusiewicz said, according to Catholic.by, the website of the Catholic Church in Belarus. "I leave as a ruling bishop, but as a bishop I remain."