The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, is expected to visit Belarus in mid-August. Msgr. Bertone paid his first visit to Belarus in the capacity of secretary of state in June 2008.
He then met with Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the top clerics of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches in Belarus, and visited the Minsk Archdiocese and the Hrodna and Pinsk Dioceses of the Catholic Church.
During his August stay, the cardinal is expected to visit the Vitsyebsk Diocese and participate in the coronation ceremony for the Braslaw Mother of God Icon.
The visit will give a new impetus to the work on a cooperation agreement between the Belarusian government and the Catholic Church, Leanid Hulyaka, the government’s commissioner on religious and ethnic affairs, said at a round-table discussion in Minsk on May 7.
After an April 27 audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, Alyaksandr Lukashenka met with Msgr. Bertoni and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states.
They discussed the possibility of Belarus signing a cooperation agreement with the Roman Catholic Church similar to the one earlier signed with the Russian Orthodox Church. Also under discussion was cooperation in the areas of science, culture, archival records and librarianship.
Msgr. Bertone first visited Belarus in August 1997, when he was secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
One of the highest-ranking officials in the Roman Catholic Church, Msgr. Bertone is responsible for the most important political and diplomatic affairs in the Holy See.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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