Passport officers at Sheremetyevo Airport refused entry to a Roman Catholic bishop who was returning to his diocese, in effect revoking his right to live and work in Russia and escalating a conflict with the Vatican, Catholic officials said.
Bishop Jerzy Mazur, a Polish citizen who is one of four Catholic bishops in Russia, arrived at the airport Friday with a valid visa, saw it canceled on the spot and was forced to fly back to Warsaw, Poland.
Mazur, who has been based in eastern Siberia since 1998, was the second Catholic cleric to be denied entry to Russia in recent weeks.
"Russia's Catholics may get the impression that a wide-scale anti-Catholic campaign is under way in Russia in which state structures are regrettably taking part," Igor Kovalevsky, general secretary of the Conference of Catholic Priests of Russia, said Saturday.
About 100 Orthodox protesters denouncing Catholic "expansion" gathered outside Mazur's cathedral in Irkutsk during Sunday morning Mass.
"They had signs like 'Russians, defend Russian culture' and 'Pope, stay in the Vatican,'" Natalya Goletkina, a Catholic journalist and press secretary for the cathedral in Irkutsk, said by telephone.
"It was most unpleasant and our parishioners were quite worried about clashes. But the demonstrators dispersed before the end of the Mass and it all ended without incident."
A statement from Mazur's diocese said the 48-year-old bishop was stopped at Sheremetyevo's passport control and told he was on a black list of people barred from entering Russia.
"They canceled Bishop Jerzy Mazur's multi-entry Russian visa, which had not expired, without explanation and declared him persona non grata. Diplomatically, this in effect amounts to expulsion from the country," the statement said.
Earlier this month, Italian priest Stefano Caprio had his valid multi-entry visa confiscated by Russian passport control as he was catching a flight to Milan at Sheremetyevo Airport. Caprio, who had worked in Russia for more than a decade, was told he was on a black list compiled by the secret services.
"Every country in the world, including the United States, has a list of certain citizens from other countries who are banned from entering that country," deputy border service director Alexander Yeryomin said Saturday in an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio. He provided no other explanation for revoking the visas.
The Foreign Ministry would not comment on either incident. But Mazur had angered the ministry earlier this year by referring to a disputed region in Russia's Far East by its Japanese name, Karafuto Prefecture. The area includes islands Russia calls the Kurils that the Soviet army seized at the end of World War II.
Speaking during a visit to Switzerland, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, the head of the Catholic Church in Moscow, said: "The events of the past months are showing that an organized campaign against Russia's Catholic Church is going on."
In Rome on Saturday, the Vatican called Russian Ambassador Vitaly Litvin and issued a stern protest. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls termed the incident a "grave violation" of Russia's commitment as a signatory of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which commits countries to recognizing basic human rights and freedoms.
Russia's relations with the Catholic Church have been tense for many years, largely because the Russian Orthodox Church jealously guards its prerogatives as the country's dominant faith. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, church leaders have complained about "proselytizing" by "foreign" churches, particularly Catholics.
"I am sure the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church is behind this both cynical and blunt campaign," said Anatoly Pchelintsev, director of the Institute of Religion and Law in Moscow. "It is no secret that at least half of Russian Orthodox hierarchs are either former or current agents of the KGB or FSB, which have a great influence in Russian power structures."
Relations between Catholics and Orthodox have worsened since the Vatican established formal dioceses in Russia in February, upgrading them from the former status of "apostolic administrations."
The Russian Orthodox Church considers Russia to be its "canonical territory" and says no other church has the right to form dioceses, the seat of a bishop.
There are four in Russia, based in Moscow, Saratov, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. Mazur was named to head the Irkutsk diocese, which covers an area larger than the United States, territorially the largest Catholic diocese in the world.
Of Russia's 144 million people, two-thirds describe themselves as Orthodox. There are approximately 600,000 Catholics, including 50,000 living in Mazur's diocese.
Mazur is among about 200 foreign priests who have helped Russia's Catholics revive religious traditions since the end of Communist rule. "For me as a bishop, this is a great tragedy, a blow, because you cannot return to the people who are entrusted to you," Mazur said upon returning to Warsaw, according to Poland's PAP news agency.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2000, Mazur said many of the Catholics are descendants of Poles, Lithuanians, Germans and other Catholics sent to Siberia as exiles. Preaching to them is not proselytizing but helping them reclaim their past, he said.
The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia issued a statement Saturday appealing to President Vladimir Putin to guarantee freedom of religion. "Foreign priests have increasingly faced difficulties in performing their pastoral duties," the statement said. "Are the times of persecution for one's faith really returning?" (LAT, AP, Reuters)
Bishop Jerzy Mazur, a Polish citizen who is one of four Catholic bishops in Russia, arrived at the airport Friday with a valid visa, saw it canceled on the spot and was forced to fly back to Warsaw, Poland.
Mazur, who has been based in eastern Siberia since 1998, was the second Catholic cleric to be denied entry to Russia in recent weeks.
"Russia's Catholics may get the impression that a wide-scale anti-Catholic campaign is under way in Russia in which state structures are regrettably taking part," Igor Kovalevsky, general secretary of the Conference of Catholic Priests of Russia, said Saturday.
About 100 Orthodox protesters denouncing Catholic "expansion" gathered outside Mazur's cathedral in Irkutsk during Sunday morning Mass.
"They had signs like 'Russians, defend Russian culture' and 'Pope, stay in the Vatican,'" Natalya Goletkina, a Catholic journalist and press secretary for the cathedral in Irkutsk, said by telephone.
"It was most unpleasant and our parishioners were quite worried about clashes. But the demonstrators dispersed before the end of the Mass and it all ended without incident."
A statement from Mazur's diocese said the 48-year-old bishop was stopped at Sheremetyevo's passport control and told he was on a black list of people barred from entering Russia.
"They canceled Bishop Jerzy Mazur's multi-entry Russian visa, which had not expired, without explanation and declared him persona non grata. Diplomatically, this in effect amounts to expulsion from the country," the statement said.
Earlier this month, Italian priest Stefano Caprio had his valid multi-entry visa confiscated by Russian passport control as he was catching a flight to Milan at Sheremetyevo Airport. Caprio, who had worked in Russia for more than a decade, was told he was on a black list compiled by the secret services.
"Every country in the world, including the United States, has a list of certain citizens from other countries who are banned from entering that country," deputy border service director Alexander Yeryomin said Saturday in an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio. He provided no other explanation for revoking the visas.
The Foreign Ministry would not comment on either incident. But Mazur had angered the ministry earlier this year by referring to a disputed region in Russia's Far East by its Japanese name, Karafuto Prefecture. The area includes islands Russia calls the Kurils that the Soviet army seized at the end of World War II.
Speaking during a visit to Switzerland, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, the head of the Catholic Church in Moscow, said: "The events of the past months are showing that an organized campaign against Russia's Catholic Church is going on."
In Rome on Saturday, the Vatican called Russian Ambassador Vitaly Litvin and issued a stern protest. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls termed the incident a "grave violation" of Russia's commitment as a signatory of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which commits countries to recognizing basic human rights and freedoms.
Russia's relations with the Catholic Church have been tense for many years, largely because the Russian Orthodox Church jealously guards its prerogatives as the country's dominant faith. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, church leaders have complained about "proselytizing" by "foreign" churches, particularly Catholics.
"I am sure the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church is behind this both cynical and blunt campaign," said Anatoly Pchelintsev, director of the Institute of Religion and Law in Moscow. "It is no secret that at least half of Russian Orthodox hierarchs are either former or current agents of the KGB or FSB, which have a great influence in Russian power structures."
Relations between Catholics and Orthodox have worsened since the Vatican established formal dioceses in Russia in February, upgrading them from the former status of "apostolic administrations."
The Russian Orthodox Church considers Russia to be its "canonical territory" and says no other church has the right to form dioceses, the seat of a bishop.
There are four in Russia, based in Moscow, Saratov, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. Mazur was named to head the Irkutsk diocese, which covers an area larger than the United States, territorially the largest Catholic diocese in the world.
Of Russia's 144 million people, two-thirds describe themselves as Orthodox. There are approximately 600,000 Catholics, including 50,000 living in Mazur's diocese.
Mazur is among about 200 foreign priests who have helped Russia's Catholics revive religious traditions since the end of Communist rule. "For me as a bishop, this is a great tragedy, a blow, because you cannot return to the people who are entrusted to you," Mazur said upon returning to Warsaw, according to Poland's PAP news agency.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2000, Mazur said many of the Catholics are descendants of Poles, Lithuanians, Germans and other Catholics sent to Siberia as exiles. Preaching to them is not proselytizing but helping them reclaim their past, he said.
The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia issued a statement Saturday appealing to President Vladimir Putin to guarantee freedom of religion. "Foreign priests have increasingly faced difficulties in performing their pastoral duties," the statement said. "Are the times of persecution for one's faith really returning?" (LAT, AP, Reuters)