Lukashenko met with the Pope's Special Envoy

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko met today with Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, reports BELTA correspondent.

Claudio Gugerotti served as Apostolic Nuncio to Belarus in 2011-2015. This time he arrived in Minsk as a special envoy of Pope Francis.

"I am very glad that His Holiness Pope Francis has sent you to Belarus. I am pleased to meet with you, I have good impressions from meetings, negotiations, conversations with you when you served here. And I have always said that the current Pope Francis, from my point of view, is a man of the people. This greatly appeals to me," Alexander Lukashenko stated.

The President asked Claudio Gugerotti to convey to Pope Francis the warmest New Year's greetings and wishes for good health. "If he gets sick, he shouldn't worry: we are ready to take him for treatment, we know how to treat. But it's better not to get sick now. And Christmas is here, New Year, holidays - we have no time to be sick. But if anything - come to us immediately," the Head of State noted humorously.

The Archbishop assured that he would definitely convey these words to the Pope. According to him, the head of the Catholic Church wanted to celebrate Christmas with the faithful, but quarantine measures do not allow this yet.

Alexander Lukashenko also thanked the Pope's special envoy for his visit, calling his visit to Minsk a good sign. "There is something to talk about, we have always had many topics. Many topics remain, they cannot be resolved immediately. But there are some movements," the President stated.

Claudio Gugerotti also believes that during his work in Belarus, the parties have managed to do a lot to develop relations. "Unfortunately, you left us early. After Great Britain, you need to return to Belarus again," the Head of State replied. "After Great Britain, it might be retirement. The sun is not visible there - it's dangerous for health," the Archbishop also joked.

The Roman Catholic Church in Belarus is the second largest religious denomination in the republic in terms of the number of believers. Over the past 20 years, the number of RCC religious communities in the country has quadrupled, and today there are 498 of them. They are united into four dioceses: Minsk-Mohilev, Vitebsk, Grodno, and Pinsk.

Roman Catholic Church communities have 514 churches, with 31 more under construction. From 1988 to 2020, the state transferred about 300 properties to the church for religious purposes.

Eight RCC bishops serve in Belarus. A total of 453 clergy work in the parishes, of whom 71 are foreign citizens, primarily from Poland. There are 36 foreign nuns. Catholic clergy in Belarus are trained in two seminaries - in Grodno and Pinsk. Since 2009, a catechetical college for laity has been operating in Baranovichi. In 2013, the Minsk Theological College named after St. John the Baptist of the Minsk-Mogilev Archdiocese was registered, and in 2015 - the Theological Academy named after St. John Paul II. However, its construction has not yet begun. In 2018, the Theological College named after St. Casimir of the Grodno Diocese was registered in Belarus.