religious freedoms in Russia. Keston, which monitors violations of religious freedom, noted "an organized campaign" against Catholics and other Christians.
The apparent persecution, which Keston described as the "’fiercest anti-Catholic crackdown since the collapse of the Soviet Union, " comes amid concern about new legislation throughout the region. Church observers say that former Soviet republics increasingly feature measures to support state-approved religious administrations and outlaw any perceived religious competitors.
"Within the span of just a few weeks in April, Catholics suddenly caught up with Protestants as targets of Russian repression," said Lawrence Uzzell, Director of Keston Institute. "Officials at Moscow’s international airport confiscated the multiple-entry visa of Fr Stefano Caprio, a prominent Italian priest serving parishes in Vladimir and Ivanovo, north- east of Moscow," he said.
PERISH UNDER THREAT
Uzzell noted that the local authorities in mainly Orthodox Russia stepped up threats to liquidate the parish in Magadan, part of the largest (in territory) Catholic diocese in the world, with its see in Irkutsk near Lake Baikal – six time zones east of Moscow.
A United States Priest there was apparently told that he has to leave "on the spurious grounds that its priest (a citizen of the United States) does not have a residence permit."
Since April 19 Moscow officials have also "blocked the bishop of that diocese, Jerzy Mazur, from entering the country," Uzzell reported.
BLOCKED CHURCH CONSTRUCTION
In addition an Irish priest serving in the Volga River town of Saratov was apparently warned that he would have to suspend his religious activities on one week’s notice. At the same time the city of Pskov in western Russia blocked construction of a Catholic church building, Uzell said.
He noted that the apparent crack down feeds on an ultra-nationalist myth, "nurtured by too many irresponsible Russians in high places." The myth is that the pre- Soviet Russian heartland was homogeneously Orthodox, with Roman Catholics to be found only in the Tsarist empire’s westernmost possessions such as Poland.
The myth-makers insist that the Vatican today is practicing "spiritual aggression" (they favor military metaphors) against this Orthodox homeland. They point out that since 1991 Rome has established about 300 Catholic parishes in a country which had only two during most of the Soviet years. Also, Rome has sent several hundred priests to serve these parishes, nearly all of them foreigners, Uzzell said.
STALIN AND CATHOLICS
He cited a Moscow Catholic who suggested that "the real founder of the Roman Catholic Church in Siberia was (Soviet leader) Stalin." It was a reference to thousands of Russian citizens of Polish, Lithuanian, or German descent who were exiled to places such as the Magadan prison colony on the Pacific coast, where some of their descendants are still living.
There has been concern among human rights watchers that Russia’s crucial role in the global war on terrorism, may make the United States less inclined to criticize violations of religious freedoms.
