The Vatican's second-ranking official on Sunday said his talks in Belarus over the past week had paved the way for a visit by Pope Benedict. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, met President Alexander Lukashenko during a five-day stay in the ex-Soviet state that is accused in the West of crushing freedom of speech and assembly.
After Friday's talks, Lukashenko issued an invitation to Benedict to make his first visit to the country of 10 million wedged between Russia and four European Union states.
"My visit was something like a visit of John the Baptist showing the way," Bertone told a news conference.
"I will do everything to make this (papal) visit possible. Let us hope for it."
Bertone gave no possible date for visit.
No pope has visited Belarus, though Benedict's predecessor, John Paul, came to several ex-Soviet states, including Ukraine, home to more than five million eastern-rite Catholics.
John Paul's long-held dream had been to travel to Russia, but Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II opposed a visit, accusing the Catholic church of poaching parishioners and claiming property in former Soviet republics.
Bertone was the first senior Vatican official to visit Belarus, where the Orthodox Church is predominant, but Roman Catholics account for about 14 percent of 10 million residents.
Lukashenko said he welcomed any warming of relations that might result from it. The president has sought improved ties with the West, particularly with the European Union.
But the continued detention of prominent opposition figure Alexander Kozulin has slowed diplomatic efforts. Relations are particularly tense with Washington after Belarus asked the U.S. abmassador to leave Minsk and ordered cuts in embassy staff.
SANCTIONS
Bertone criticised the use of sanctions as the Vatican has denounced such measures elsewhere, including the U.S. trade embargo on communist Cuba.
"Every nation must make use of its right to independent development," he said. "Sanctions against Cuba, Belarus and other countries are unacceptable as it is people who suffer."
The United States and EU have slapped sanctions on Minsk, barring entry to Lukashenko. Belarus is particularly angry about additional U.S. measures aimed at oil company Belneftekhim.
The country has endured little of the animosity between Orthodoxy and Catholicism that has bedevilled ties in Russia.
Holidays of both faiths are officially observed and thousands went to the country's largest cathedral to hear a mass by Pope Benedict that was beamed in from Rome in March.
Lukashenko, who describes himself as an "Orthodox atheist", agreed after the talks to sign an agreement with the Catholic church on relations and land allocation.
An accord recognising Orthodoxy as Belarus's main faith has long been in effect.
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