Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the Catholic Archbishop of Minsk, the Vatican said on January 3.<\/p>\n
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz was allowed to return to Belarus last month after being stopped from re-entering the country since August following a trip to Poland where he criticized the crackdown on protests against the contested reelection of strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear whether Kondrusiewicz’s resignation was expected.<\/p>\n
The Vatican said in a short statement that the resignation was in accordance with a code that allows bishops to retire at age 75.<\/p>\n
While in Poland, Kondrusiewicz, who is a Belarus citizen, gave an interview to a radio station calling for an end to police violence against protesters and demanding the resignation of Lukashenka.<\/p>\n
Lukashenka, who faces ongoing protests by the opposition against his rule, accused Kondrusiewicz in November of plotting to “destroy the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets for months, declaring that opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya was the real winner of the country’s contested August vote.<\/p>\n
Tikhanovskaya wrote on Twitter on January 3 that the archbishop would preside over his last Sunday service later that day.<\/p>\n
“Belarusians have been truly blessed” to be under his guidance “during this difficult time”, wrote Tikhanovskaya, who remains in Lithuania after fleeing Belarus following the election.<\/p>\n
Catholicism is the second largest religious denomination in Belarus, after Eastern Orthodoxy.<\/p>\n
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters<\/p>\n\n