Archbishop Kondrusiewicz is no longer archbishop of Minsk. Although his resignation coincides with the age at which bishops should retire, it seems to have been part of an agreement between the Vatican and Lukashenko.
Kondrusiewicz was exiled for four months. He was exiled for defending protesters calling for political transparency following the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years.
He was allowed to return to Belarus on Dec. 24. The pope accepted his resignation soon after, but he did not name a successor. This indicates that the pope may not be fully on board with the situation.
This is the second time Kondrusiewicz steps down from a leadership position in a diocese. The first was when he resigned from his role as head of the Moscow-based Archdiocese of the Mother of God. Then pope John Paul II had appointed him in 1991, making him the first resident Catholic bishop of Moscow. After the collapse of Soviet rule, Catholic-Orthodox ties became tense over Orthodox complaints of Catholic proselytism. In 2007, Benedict XVI moved him to Minsk.
