Belarussian political scientist believes that visit of the Belarussian president to Vatican will greatly facilitate the integration among European leaders
Minsk. April 23. INTERFAX
The visit of Alexander Lukashenko to Vatican in prior to the summit of East partnership will greatly facilitate the adaptation of the Belarusian President in Europe, says political analyst Aleksandr Tikhomirov.
“The Pope is the most influential from Western politicians. Neither the president of Catholic countries are not able to reckon with the fact that the Pope invited to visit Belarusian president to spoke with him,” - told A. Tikhomirov to Interfax.
According to the politic expert, if the first European visit of the president was to Prague was or Brussels, the visit would be blurred as it has already heard the promises of demarche or obstruction on the part of some European nations. ” “But if the first visit will be of such plan, a trip will be triumphantly and will not be overshadowed by anything. After Belarusian president will shake hand with the Pope, maybe, it will be to Berlusconi to communicate with others”, said the agency interlocutor.
From Vatican, said political scientist, there is interest to increase contacts with Belarusian flock. ” Previously John Paul II communicated with Belarusian Catholics in Poland, but Poland’s joining the Schengen it became harder to do,” - he said.
The fact that the intensification of relations with Catholics did not start with the visit of Pope to Belarus but from Mr Lukashenko`s visit to Vatican, A. Tikhomirov explains that “society and the Orthodox Church should be prepared for a visit.”
“If for the first time The Pope came here it would have been a slanting views of the Orthodox Church. As if he came to engage in proselytism. Logically that for the first time the head of state goes to the Vatican to communicate with the head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope can not answer on this gesture “, - considers the agency interlocutor.
However A. Tikhomirov drew attention to the fact that an Catholic Church is perceived as a spiritual space of Europe. “Today, the European values, sought by the people of Belarus can be equated to some extent with the Catholic faith, and therefore not perceived as alien, but rather as a progressive,” - he explained.
However, said the agency interlocutor, “the position of Catholic churches in Europe is not so strong -, many countries do not want to write in the European constitution a paragraph about Christian roots.”
Talking about the political purpose of the visit, a political scientist suggested that the primary purpose was to demonstrate that the government is building relationships with all segments of the population, as Roman Catholics do not perceive as a threat to statehood, as it was in the Nineties. ” “This is facilitated by the fact that the very Catholic Church in Belarus is not positioning itself as the Polish one. Service translated from Polish to Belarusian language” - he added.
It is anticipated that the visit of Alexander Lukashenko in Vatican will take place in late April.
