The head of the Catholic Church in Belarus has resigned. He lived in exile for four months after criticizing Lukashenko

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the leader of the Belarusian Catholics, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk and Mogilev, the press service of the Holy See reported.

Kondrusevich resigned due to the fact that on January 3 he turned 75 years old. Upon reaching this age, the Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church obliges bishops to submit their resignations.

The bishop of the Pinsk diocese, Kazimir Velikoselts, became the interim head of the archdiocese and took the post of apostolic administrator.

Kondrusiewicz has served as Metropolitan of Minsk-Mogilev since September 2007. In June 2015, he became chairman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus.

• In August 2020, the Belarusian border guards refused to let Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz into the country, despite the fact that he is a citizen of Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko, commenting on this, said that Kondrusevich "went to Poland and received advice on how to destroy our country." Before that, Kondrusevich criticized the presidential elections in Belarus, which, according to him, were held "dishonestly."
• Kondrusevich was able to return to Belarus on 24 December. About two weeks earlier, according to Tut.by , Kondrusevich submitted his resignation, after which Alexander Lukashenko met with a representative of the Roman Catholic Church and discussed the return of Kondrusevich to Belarus.