MOSCOW, Apr 24, 02 (CWNews.com) - The decision by Russia's "special services" to cancel the visa of Bishop Jerzy Mazur of Irkutsk, when he was attempting to return to his diocese after a holiday in his native Poland has raised considerable comment in Russia. It is widely assumed to be the result of the current anger of the Orthodox Church at what they see inappropriate attempts by the Vatican to extend its influence in Russia.
The Orthodox leadership, however, has tried to distance itself from the affair. The deputy head of the foreign department of the Moscow Patriarchate, Father Vsevolod Chaplin, denied that the Patriarchate had "initiated" the action. The Russian state authorities, he said, had made the decision; and since they have "every right to decide which alien is welcome and which is not." The cancellation of the bishop's visa did not, in the Patriarchate's view, constitute an infringement of the right of freedom of worship.
A similar stance was adopted by Aleksandr Chuyev, chairman of the Duma {lower chamber of parliament] Committee for Religious Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations. He did not, he said, regard the case of Bishop Mazur as "a manifestation of the state's general policy regarding various churches and religions." And he added: "Nor should it be interpreted in the context of relation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church."
Russia's ombudsman, Oleg Mironov, however, takes a different view. He warned the Russian state authorities against siding with the Orthodox Church to the detriment of other creeds. It was, he said, "thought-provoking" that the incident had come at a time when relations between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Vatican were "difficult." Russia, he pointed out, "is a country of many faiths and ethnic groups, where every confession and the freedom of conscience of every believer should be inviolable." His office, he said, receives many complaints from non-Orthodox religious groups and communities, alleging breaches of the law on the part of the authorities-- such as making it impossible for them to rent premises for worship or parochial activities.
The "difficult" situation mentioned by Mironov was triggered by the Vatican's decision to upgrade the apostolic administrations for Russia to dioceses. This triggered a spate of reactions from the Orthodox-- from high level criticisms of the Vatican's "intrusion" into Russia to grass-roots protest meetings in the vicinity of Catholic churches.
To Russians, the Catholic church is perceived as something "foreign"-- and the fact that many of the Catholic clerics now serving in Russia are foreigners (Bishop Mazur is a Polish citizen) makes it all too easy to impute a political subtext to their appointments.
The Russian "special services" were less than forthcoming about why the Bishop's visa had been withdrawn; they informed the media that the decision was taken in accordance with Article 27 of the law on entering and leaving the Russian Federation, but did not specify which of the various reasons for denying entry listed under that Article applied in this case.
However, the Patriarchate's spokesman, Father Vsevolod, had a plausible suggestion: the full title of Bishop Mazur's huge diocese (which stretches to the Pacific), includes the name Karafuto, the Japanese term for South Sakhalin, which is now part of Russia. This, Father Vsevolod says, implies a lack of respect for Russia's territorial integrity, and "any country would take a harsh view" of a foreign cleric who exhibited such an attitude.
[Catholic officials frankly confess that the reference of "Karafuto" in the description of the new diocese was an outright clerical error. And Bishop Mazur has pointed out that the formal description of his diocese was changed, in answer to Russian complaints, shortly before his ouster.]
The implication that Catholic clerics are hostile to the Russian state is a serious one, and the case of Bishop Mazur is not the only instance of that charge. A few days before his visa was withdrawn, another foreign cleric, Father Stefano Caprio, an Italian, who had for several years served the Catholic parish in the town of Vladimir, and who was leaving Russia for a holiday in Italy, had his re-entry visa withdrawn. The Russian media quoted unidentified "sources in the special services" alleging that he was involved in anti-Russian espionage.
The two incidents, following the anti-Catholic protests of the last two months, caused the Russian Catholic Bishops' Conference to appeal both to international human rights organizations and to Russia's President Putin "to restore justice and not to tolerate discrimination."
However, according to Russia's Interfax news-agency, at least one member of the Russian Cabinet is critical of the withdrawal of the clerics' visas. "Russia," this unidentified politician was quoted as saying, "is a secular state in which no religion has privileges and in which no religion can be prosecuted. If the visas were indeed withdrawn due to illegal activities by the clerics, then the full facts should be made public. If, however, this was done only because they are Catholics, then this is medieval obscurantism."
- Analysis by Vera Rich
Catholic World News Feature
24. april 2002