HOLY SEE ON BISHOP EXPELLED FROM RUSSIAN FEDERATION

VATICAN CITY, APR 20, 2002 (VIS) - Joaquin Navvarro-Valls, director of the Holy See Press Office, made the following declaration this afternoon regarding Bishop Jerzy Mazur, S.V.D, who has been expelled from the Russian Federation:

"Friday evening, April 19, 2002, at Sheremetievo-2 Airport in Moscow, Bishop Jerzy Mazur, S.V.D., of the Catholic diocese of St. Joseph of Irkutsk, in Eastern Siberia, was denied entry into the Russian Federation upon his early afternoon arrival from Warsaw, and was made to reboard a flight for Warsaw. No explanation was provided to Bishop Mazur regarding the measure taken towards him.

"The Secretary of State and the Pontifical Representation in Moscow immediately intervened along with the Russian authorities, asking for an explanation and requesting the return of the entrance visa to the prelate.

"What happened to Bishop Mazur, several days after what happened to the Italian priest Stefano Caprio, of St. Rosario at Vladimir and Ivanovo (Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow), represents a serious violation of the commitments undertaken by the Russian governing authorities, signatories of the final document of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Vienna, January 15, 1989). In fact, in the "Principles" Section, article 16, it was ratified that "the participating States, among other things, ... will respect the right of religious communities to build and maintain freely accessible places of worship or meeting; to organize themselves according to their own hierarchal and institutional structure; to choose, nominate and replace their own personnel in accordance with the respective requirements and their own norms as well as any agreement freely accepted by them and the state." We hope, therefore, for a prompt review of the measure taken and that Bishop Mazur can soon return to his faithful in East Siberia."

OP;RUSSIA; EXPULSION BISHOP;...;NAVARRO-VALLS;VIS;20020422;Word: 300;