{"id":4586,"date":"2021-01-03T13:54:33","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T13:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=145634"},"modified":"2021-01-03T13:54:33","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T13:54:33","slug":"pope-accepts-resignation-of-minsk-archbishop-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/03\/pope-accepts-resignation-of-minsk-archbishop-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Accepts Resignation Of Minsk Archbishop"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a><\/strong> 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