Belarus: Clergy Urged to Exercise Digital Caution

“Priests may at any time be placed under arrest and their parishes deprived of legal status if they publish or share any information that regulatory authorities consider as extremis. That’s why the bishops asked them to stop their activity on social media.”

It is with gravity that Natallia Vasilievich, Belarusian coordinator of Christian Vision (an NGO defending Christians around the world)  describes the religious situation in her country in an interview with OSV News published on November 25, 2024.

To understand what this is about, it is worth recalling that in Belarus, a law on “freedom of conscience and religious organizations” came into force at the beginning of 2024. And now, almost a year later, the various Christian communities are beginning to measure its effects on their daily lives.

The text of the law, promulgated by Alexander Lukashenko, a former apparatchik of the Soviet era who rules this satellite country of neighboring Russia with an iron fist, aims to “consolidate modern approaches in relations between the State and religious organizations.”

It specifies that any registered religious organization must re-register within one year of the entry into force of the law, under penalty of being dissolved. It is a “re-registration” that is far from automatic, but must receive the approval of the authorities.

However, said authorities can refuse to register a religious organization based on reasons that have emerged from the new law, such as actions deemed “not in line with domestic and foreign policy” or the harmony of the country, as well as statements aimed at “discrediting the State,” “extremist” activities or those leading to “undermining the honor and dignity of the Nation,” which includes “insulting civil servants.”

“Priests can be arrested and their parishes deprived of legal status if they publish or share something considered “extremist”. This is why their bishops have asked them to stop their activity on social media,” explains Natallia Vasilievich. And she mentions recent cases such as the one involving Fr. Yuri Barauniou, priest of the parish of the Heart of Jesus in Krulevshchina, near Vitebsk, who was detained for ten days last October for “storing and distributing extremist material.” Fr. Andrei Keulich, archpriest of the Mogilev deanery, suffered a similar fate.

In its October 31, 2024 report, Christian Vision indicates that 36 members of the Catholic clergy of the Latin or Greek churches had been “subjected to … persecution for political reasons” since 2020, alongside 21 Orthodox pastors and 29 Protestant pastors.  A situation that has not improved with the forced recall of Bishop Ante Jozic, former apostolic nuncio to Belarus, who had to pack his bags in the summer of 2024.

According to a study published in 2017 by the Pew Research Center, in a country with approximately 9.5 million inhabitants, 73% of Belarusians consider themselves Orthodox Christian, 12% are members of the Catholic Church, and the remaining 6% belong to the 23 other denominations registered in Belarus. 

Some members of the clergy at times have believed that they were breaking with prudent conduct, by taking critical action against Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. Hence, this appeal to reason from the Belarusian Catholic hierarchy, supported by the diplomatic services of the Vatican. The bishops are urging their clergy to remain in a strictly religious role so as not to endanger the legal existence of the Church.