The Catholic Church in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

is part of the worldwide

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, under the spiritual leadership of the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. The first

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language onc ...

diocese in Belarus was established in Turaŭ between 1008 and 1013. Catholicism was a traditionally dominant religion of Belarusian

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

(the

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in ...

) and of a large part of the population of West Belarus.

Description

As of 2015, there are 674,500 Catholics in the country, about 7.1% of the total population. Most of these belong to the

dioceses. A small minority are of

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. The canonical hours a ...

, forming the particular

Belarusian Greek Catholic Church The Belarusian Greek Catholic Church ( be, Беларуская грэка-каталіцкая царква, ''Bielaruskaja hreka-katalickaja carkva'' BHKC; la, Ecclesiae Graecae Catholico Belarusica) sometimes called in reference to its B ...

, which is in union with the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

and follows the Byzantine Slavonic ritual. Polish and Lithuanian minorities in Belarus are predominantly Latin-Rite Catholics. The Greek Catholics are mostly ethnic

Belarusians , native_name_lang = be , pop = 9.5–10 million , image = , caption = , popplace = 7.99 million , region1 = , pop1 = 600,000–768,000 , region2 = , pop2 ...

, with some

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...

History

The first

diocese in Belarus was established in Turaŭ between 1008 and 1013. Catholicism was a traditionally dominant religion of Belarusian

(the

) and of a large part of the population of western and northwestern parts of Belarus. There was once an archbishopric in

Polotsk Polotsk (russian: По́лоцк; be, По́лацк, translit=Polatsk (BGN/PCGN), Polack (official transliteration); lt, Polockas; pl, Połock) is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Dvina River. It is the center of the Polotsk Dist ...

. St.

Josaphat Kuntsevych Josaphat Kuntsevych, OSBM ( – 12 November 1623) was a Basilian monks, Basilian monk and eparch, archeparch of the Ruthenian Uniate Church, Ruthenian Catholic Church who on 12 November 1623 was killed by an angry mob in Vitebsk, in the ...

was archbishop from 1618 to 1623, succeeding another archbishop. In August 2020, the leader of the Roman Catholic church in Belarus Tadevuš Kandrusievič was banned from returning to Belarus from Poland for several months after condemning violence during the mass protests. He was forced to resign soon after the return 5 months later.Карикатура, которая будет дорого стоить: как белорусский режим делает из католиков врагов. Мнение
/ref> In July 2021,

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luk ...

tried to intervene in the prayer schedule warning Catholic priests not to perform the religious song " The Almighty God" ( be, Магутны Божа).Смотрите, нарветесь – Лукашенко предостерег от молитвы под «Магутны Божа»
/ref> In September 2021, ''Minskaya Pravda'' (an official newspaper of Minsk Oblast) published a cartoon depicting Roman Catholic priests as Nazis wearing swastika instead of crosses.Belarus church denounces anti-Catholic cartoon depicting priests as Nazis
/ref>

References

External links

The Catholic Church in Belarus
- official website and the central Belarusian catholic web-portal
The Apostolic Nuntiature in Belarus

Partał Maładych Katalikoŭ
- Young Catholics of Belarus {{Catholicism in Europe, state=collapsed

Description

History

See also

References

External links