Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz Discharged From Hospital

The diagnosis with which he was hospitalised has become known.

Metropolitan Emeritus of Minsk and Mahiliou Archbishop Emeritus at Rest Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz has been discharged from the 1st City Clinical Hospital, reported the portal of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus.

"Almost on the eve of Lent, February 12, I was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmia and underwent a course of treatment until February 27," said the hierarch.

Kondrusiewicz thanked the doctors, as well as all those who prayed for him. He also said that on March 3, he would serve mass in Minsk archdiocesan church of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

We remind you, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz has been the Metropolitan of Minsk and Mahiliou since 2007, being the leader of the Catholic Church in Belarus. During the 2020 protests, he condemned the authorities for bloodshed, violence and mass arrests.

On August 31, 2020, when Kondrusiewicz was returning to Belarus from Poland, border guards did not allow him to enter the country without explanation, even though he is a Belarusian citizen. The next day, Aliaksandr Lukashenka said that Kondrusiewicz allegedly "concealed the existence of other citizenships, was engaged in anti-state activities and received some kind of assignment in Warsaw." Two weeks later, the Interior Ministry said that Kondrusiewicz's passport was invalidated due to the check for the Belarusian citizenship, but he had not been deprived of citizenship. In November, Lukashenka said that Kondrusiewicz "went to Poland and received advice on how to destroy the country."

In December, Apostolic Nuncio Claudio Gugerotti visited Belarus and delivered a message to Lukashenka with a request to resolve the situation. Soon the nunciature reported about receiving information that there were no obstacles to Kondrusiewicz's return. Two days later, on Christmas Eve, December 24, the archbishop returned to Belarus. And a week later, on January 3, 2021, he announced that he was resigning from his post due to reaching the age of 75. The place of the metropolitan of the diocese of Minsk and Mahiliou of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus was taken by Iosif Stanevski.