We publish below the complete text of the declaration – With deep concern the Plenary session of the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE), took note on Friday 26 April of a report presented by Msgr. Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Moscow, president of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Russia on the current situation of the Catholic Church in Russia. On 19 April, at Moscow Airport, Msgr. Jerzy Mazur, Catholic Bishop, was refused permission to re-enter Russia, without adducing reasons. Msgr. Mazur is a Polish citizen and had applied, in vain, for Russian citizenship in recent years. Not long before, an Italian priest had his visa withdrawn on his entry into Russia. Foreign priests, moreover, are being preventing from exercising their pastoral tasks in Russia. The Conference of Catholic bishops of the Russian Federation has appealed to the competent state Authorities, to President Vladimir Putin and to the Russian and international organization for the defence of human rights, demanding the restoration of the constitutional guarantees, the protection of religious freedom and the end of discrimination against Russian Catholics. On behalf of the Council of the presidency I express to Russian Catholics our deep solidarity and pledge the support of the European bishops to our confreres and in particular to Msgr. Jerzy Mazur.
