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Being Catholic in Belarus by Max Sher
Belarus, a former Soviet republic squeezed between Poland and Russia, may astound visitors with its peculiar identity as a nation proudly nostalgic of the late Soviet Union. However, there are people in Belarus in whose minds hammers and sickles have given way to crucifixes and mangers. Though predominantly Orthodox, Belarus has a strong and independent-minded Catholic community that is enjoying a vibrant rebirth after decades of communism. Catholics make up 14% of Belarus’ 10m population, and Catholicism is one of the identity traits that makes Belarus different from Russia, which it resembles very much otherwise. The nation’s Catholic Church is one of the few institutions that promotes the Belarusian language, which is left without much government support in this mostly Russian-speaking country. Catholic calvaries, Polish tombstone inscriptions, Masses in Polish... Sometimes it makes you feel you are in Poland. No wonder, Belarus’ Catholics live mostly in areas that were part of pre-1939 Poland. As a result of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, they were annexed by the Soviet Union and became part of the Soviet Belarus.
The nation’s longtime president, Alexander Lukashenka, said on the occasion of Christmas 2005 that he would do his best to support the Catholic Church in Belarus. Earlier, the government provided funding to complete the restoration of the nation’s main Catholic cathedral in the capital Minsk. On the other hand, the authorities often expel Catholic priests and monks of Polish nationality accusing them of anti-government activities or create other obstacles for non-Belarusian Catholic activists to come to and work in the country.
