A Catholic priest in Georgia has warned of growing hostility toward the Catholic Church."There's no problem going to church and taking part in services. The hardship starts when a Catholic wants to function normally in social life," said Fr Maciej Mamaj, a Polish priest in Georgia's northern Meskhetia region.
"Non-Orthodox pupils and students feel stressed and discriminated against, while those who work are often pressured to become Orthodox and told they must if they want jobs," he told Poland's Catholic information agency, KAI.
"A climate of hostility to Catholicism reigns in society, where the local nationalism supposes every Georgian should be Orthodox."
The priest said young Georgians routinely were warned not to befriend Catholics or enter Catholic churches.
He also said anti-Catholic remarks were common on radio and television.
"If the anti-Catholic trend isn't reversed, we risk losing large concentrations of our faithful," Fr Mamaj said.
"We need a stronger system for defending Georgian Catholics against Orthodox pressures. Although it may be better simply to proclaim the Gospel and maintain our ecumenical direction, Catholicism is threatened with total disappearance."
Catholic and other non-Orthodox churches, which are considered minority churches, are denied legal status as national associations and frequently complain of harassment and discrimination in Georgia.
More than 80 percent of the country's 4.6 million inhabitants are Orthodox.
Less than 1 percent of Georgians are Catholic.
Father Mamaj said a Catholic-Orthodox commission had met only twice and failed to establish a dialogue.
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