Pope accepts resignation of Minsk Archbishop and appoints Administrator

By Vatican News

The Pope has accepted the resignation presented by Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz for having reached the age limit. The daily bulletin of the Holy See Press Office announced the news on Sunday. It also announced that the Pope has appointed an Apostolic Administrator to lead the Archdiocese of the Belarusian capital.

“The Holy Father”, the statement reads, “has accepted the resignation from pastoral care, presented by Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Metropolitian Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev, in conformity with can. 401 §1, CIC and at the same time has appointed Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the same Metropolitian See Bishop Kazimierz Wielikosielec, O.P., titular Bishop of Blanda and Auxiliary of the Diocese of Pinsk”.

At the end of August 2020, the Belarusian government did not allow Archbishop Kondrusiewicz to return to his country after having traveled to Poland. On 22 December, the Apostolic Nunzio in Belarus, Archbishop Ante Jozic, had announced that he had received information “from the competent state authorities” regarding the Archbishop of Minsk that “there were no further obstacles preventing his return to the Republic of Belarus”. Kondrusiewicz was thus able to return to the Archdiocese and celebrate Christmas with the faithful.