“Europe's last dictator” seeks Vatican acceptance

 President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus has often been described as “Europe's last dictator”. Before the country's elections in 2008 the security service, (still called the KGB), imprisoned several opposition leaders and the state-controlled television branded them traitors. The President, of course, won every seat in parliament. [1]

Yet though he has his own country firmly under control, he remains in the grip of his big neighbour. Belarus shares a border with Russia and is dependent on it, not only to support Lukashenko’s dictatorial regime, but also to provide a market for the country’s exports. Although he has long chafed at this dependence, Lukashenko saw no way out. Any reforms which would lessen his reliance on Russia by making his country more acceptable to the West would also undermine his dictatorship and infuriate the Kremlin. [2]

Like leaders in other former Soviet republics, Lukashenko hoped to play off Russia and the West against one another. There is little love for Russia. “The Kremlin’s methods have been reactive and often bullying, combining incentives like cheap energy or cash disbursement with threats of trade sanctions and gas cutoffs.” [3] Whenever Belarus feels it can, it tries to assert independence from Russia. [4] And taunting the Russian bear seems to be a pre-election ritual. [5]

Lukashenko was “desperate to boost his reputation ahead of September's parliamentary elections — including hiring a British public relations firm in March to package his policies in for Western consumption”. [6] Another public relations coup would be recognition by the Pope and in June 2008, Lukashenko hosted the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone. As Yaroslav Romanchuk, head of the Mises Research Centre in Minsk, observed,

The cardinal could be a sort of intermediary between Europe and Belarus. And an influential intermediary at that. This is a way for authorities to act in Europe through the Vatican. If Lukashenko can show that Belarus respects religious rights, that would be a step towards breaking out of isolation. [7]

(Protecting “religious rights”, of course, is the ostensible purpose of concordats with the Vatican.) The Cardinal reinforced this idea, saying that the Roman Catholic Church recognised Belarus’ mission as a bridge between the East and the West and was ready to help smooth these relations. [8]

At the June meeting in Minsk the President indicated approval of an “agreement” between Belarus and the Holy See that would also give the Catholic Church the legal right to work with government institutions, (just like the Belarusian Orthodox Church which has 14 agreements with various state bodies). [9] Cardinal Bertone even took the occasion to condemn on humanitarian grounds the sanctions against Belarus imposed in response to political suppression and human rights abuses. [10] This is surprising, because the restrictions put in place by the EU were principally travel bans against top officials of this brutal government, ones which have been constantly adjusted in order to try to nudge Belarus towards more democracy. [11] 

At the cordial meeting in Minsk there was also talk of a papal visit, however, in August the Kremlin effectively pre-empted the pope. Russia invaded Georgia and publically chastised Belarus for not voicing support. Belarus quickly changed course and dutifully cheered the Russian tanks. [12]

This ended official Belarusian dealings with the Vatican for a while. Prudence dictated a public show of exclusive support for the Belarusian Orthodox Church, (BOC), which is a branch (exarchate) of the Russian one. Despite the fact that in 2009 only about 48% of Belarusians claim to be Orthodox, (and a mere 15% Roman Catholic), Belarus has concluded church-state pacts with the BOC which confer many concordat privileges. These Orthodox “concordats” are signed by Filaret, the Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk, Patriarchal Exarch of all Belarus. Though barely half the Belarusians belong to the BOC, it is being treated as a national church and the Patriarch as a national leader. In addition to the Patriarch's panagia, (the round icon with the Virgin-and-Child), he also wears the medal of a Hero of Belarus (the gold Communist star).

By contrast, the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus has traditionally been seen as foreign. It is concentrated in the western part of the country, adjoining Poland, and its priests are mostly Polish in origin. [13] Now, however, Lukashenko appears to see this link as a bridge to Europe.

In 2008, after Russia invaded Georgia, the European Union feared that Russia might attempt to bring other neighbors under its sway and officials in Brussels lifted Lukashenko's travel ban to the EU. [14] This had been imposed in 1999 over suppression of the opposition and human rights abuses. The first European country he travelled to was Italy and the first person he met was the pope. [15] According to a Russian commentator,

this meeting definitely gives Aleksandr Lukashenko certain advantages. The trivial knocks he got from some Czech officials, who promised not to shake hands with him and not to let him out of the plane, have lost their edge after the Belarusian president has improved his image in the Pope’s parlour. [16]

Lukashenko also used his 27 April 2009 visit to the Vatican to discuss the “details” of the forthcoming concordat with Cardinal Bertone. [17] Since then the concordat negotiations have progressed to the point that a Belorusian archbishop has said that it could come before the end of 2010. [18] 

Once again the Vatican appears to be offering respectability to a leader who is internationally shunned — at the price of a concordat. This it did for Hitler almost 80 years ago. After the concordat between the Nazi regime and the Holy See had been concluded in the summer of 1933, Cardinal Faulhaber (who ordained the present pope), sent a handwritten note to Hitler:

 For Germany's prestige in East and West . . . this handshake with the papacy, the greatest moral power in the history of the world, is a feat of immeasurable blessing. [19]

And in a 1937 sermon the Cardinal conformed that it had indeed had the international impact he'd earlier predicted:

At a time when the heads of the major nations in the world faced the new Germany with cool reserve and considerable suspicion, the Catholic Church, the greatest moral power on earth, through the Concordat expressed its confidence in the new German government. [20]

 A concordat, it seems, washes whiter.

 

Notes

1. Clifford J. Levy, “Kremlin Rules: Electoral Rot Nearby? The Russians Don’t See It”, New York Times, 16 December 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/world/europe/17belarus.html

2.  “Belarus: Lukashenko after the Georgian Invasion”, Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor), 18 August 2008. http://finchannel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18187&Itemid=19 

3. Ellen Barry, “Russia’s Neighbors Resist Wooing and Bullying”, New York Times, 2 July 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/world/europe/03russia.html

4. Ellen Barry, “‘Milk War’ Strains Russia-Belarus Ties”,  New York Times, 14 June 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/world/europe/15belarus.html

5. Tom Balmforth, “Crude As Usual”, Russia Profile, 17 March 2010. http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=International&articleid=a1268851217

6. Yuras Karmanau, “Belarusian president invites the Pope to visit”, Associated Press, 20 June 2008. http://bhtimes.blogspot.com/2008_06_22_archive.html

7. “Vatican envoy praises Belarus for fostering religious tolerance”, Reuters, 20 June 2008. Reposted at: http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/vatican.envoy.praises.religious.peace.in.belarus/19691.htm

8. “Roman Catholic Church recognises Belarus as bridge between East and West”, BelTA [Belarusian Telegraph Agency], 20 June 2008. http://www.belta.by/en/news/president/?id=236539

9. Yuras Karmanau, “Belarusian president invites the Pope to visit”, Associated Press, 20 June 2008. http://bhtimes.blogspot.com/2008_06_22_archive.html

10. “Sanctions against Belarus are unacceptable, Cardinal Bertone says”, Trend (Azerbaijan), 23 June 2008. http://en.trend.az/news/cis/belarus/1230176.html

11.  “'Pragmatic' EU Keeps Belarus Sanctions In Suspension”,  Radio Free Europe, 17 November 2009.

The sanctions imposed by the US, which included some export restrictions, have also been carefully calibrated to the recent actions of the Belarusian Government:

“U.S. Drops Some Sanctions Against Belarus”, Radio Free Europe, 5 September 2008
http://www.rferl.org/content/US_Drops_Some_Sanctions_Against_Belarus_/1196762.html

12. “Belarus: Lukashenko after the Georgian Invasion”, Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor), 18 August 2008. http://finchannel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18187&Itemid=19

13. “Belarus ‘Threatens’ Expulsion Of Foreign Priests”, BosNewsLife News Center, 26 September 2007. http://www.bosnewslife.com/news/3192-belarus-threatens-expulsion-of-foreign-priest

14. “'Pragmatic' EU Keeps Belarus Sanctions In Suspension”, Radio Free Europe, 17 November 2009.

15. “Belarus president visits Vatican”,  BBC, 27 April 2009.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8021513.stm

16. “Aleksandr Lukashenko's first European destination: the Vatican”,  RT [formerly Russia Today )], 27 April, 2009. http://rt.com/Politics/2009-04-27/Aleksandr_Lukashenko_s_first_European_destination__the_Vatican.html

17. Caption under the photo on the Belarusian Government website:

Belarus and Vatican are planning to sign an agreement on cooperation. The details of signing the document were discussed by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and Secretary of State of Pope Benedict XVI Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on April 27 [2009].
http://www.belarus.by/en/press-center/photo/i_41.html?page=1

18. “Preparation of Belarus-Holy See agreement intensive”, Belarusian Telegraph Agency, 6 April 2010. http://www.belta.by/en/news/president?id=513350

19. Quoted in H. Brand, “The Silence of the Vatican and the Plight of the Jews”, New Politics, vol. 8, no. 2 (new series), whole no. 30, Winter 2001. http://ww3.wpunj.edu/~newpol/issue30/brand30.htm

20. Quoted in Guenther Lewy, The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany, 2000, p. 90.