CNA Staff, Oct 13, 2020 / 15:00 pm
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday called for the government of Belarus to allow the Catholic Archbishop of Minsk and Mahilyow to return the country.
"More than 40 days have passed since Belarusian authorities prevented a fellow citizen, Catholic Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, from re-entering the country, on the spurious notion that faith leaders should not publicly challenge injustices," said Pompeo in a statement released October 13.
The Secretary of State called the refusal to allow Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz into the country an "injustice" as well as "an affront to religious freedom."
"Faith is not merely a private endeavor," he said. "I urge the Belarusian government to right this wrong and allow the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus back into his country."