ecumenism" "
“Not mere fortuitous coincidences”, but the suspicion of “an orgnized campaign against the Catholic Church”: the alarm was raised by Archbishop Tadzeusz Kondrusiewicz, metropolitan in Moscow and president of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Russia, who has denounced “the violation of the constitutional rights of Russian Catholics to freedom of conscience”. The archbishop’s denunciation is reported by the Vatican press agency Fides. “On the one hand explains the metropolitan the constitution of the Russian Federation” and a special federal law “guarantee to citizens freedom of religious confession”; on the other, “the actions taken against the Catholic Church in recent months manifestly contradict this same legislation” and this is happening in response to the inertia of the authorities. The appeal addressed to President Putin by the diocese of Pskov against “the free activity of Catholics” and the building of a church in the area; a national demonstration planned for 28 April, in flagrant violation of the law prohibiting “public demonstrations that offend religious sentiments”; and the “unmotivated withdrawal of the visa for entry into Russia of the priest Stefano Caprio, an Italian citizen” and parish priest in the city of Vladimir since 1993 and also at Ivanovo since 1998. These cases are all evident violations of freedom of conscience, says Msgr. Kondrusiewicz, who also expresses concern about “the bill currently under discussion on the traditional religious organizations which, if it were to be approved, would lead to divisions inside society and the violation of the constitutional guarantee of the equality of these same organizations before the law.
