Archbishop Ante Jozić, the outgoing apostolic nuncio to Belarus, celebrated a farewell Mass Sunday at the baroque Catholic cathedral in the capital, Minsk.
Jozić, a 57-year-old Croatian prelate, has served as the Vatican’s ambassador to the country dubbed “Europe’s last dictatorship,” since 2020.
The archbishop was appointed nuncio to Armenia and Georgia in June, ending an eventful four-year tenure.
When Jozić arrived in Minsk in October 2020, he found a nation in turmoil. Aleksandr Lukashenko, the only president Belarus has known since it declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, had just claimed a highly disputed electoral victory.
Security forces were crushing mass protests. Border guards had blocked the country’s most prominent Catholic churchman, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, from returning after a trip to neighboring Poland.
Jozić worked to stabilize relations between the Catholic Church and the Lukashenko regime — a difficult task given the authority’s ongoing habit of arresting priests for “subversive activities.”
The diplomat’s departure leaves a large gap for the Holy See to fill.
Profile of a nuncio
Since Belarus established full diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1992, the Vatican has sent the following ambassadors:
🇨🇴 Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo Higuera (1993-1994).
🇮🇹 Archbishop Agostino Marchetto (1994-1999).
🇸🇰 Archbishop Dominik Hrušovský (1996-2001).
🇸🇮 Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič (2001-2004).
🇭🇷 Archbishop Martin Vidović (2004-2011).
🇮🇹 Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti (2011-2015).
🇭🇺 Archbishop Gábor Pintér (2016- 2019).
🇭🇷 Archbishop Ante Jozić (2020-2024).
Two things are notable. First, the high caliber of nuncios to Belarus. Both Marchetto and Gugerotti were later made cardinals. (Gugerotti is currently serving as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.)
Second, the Holy See has shown a preference for either Italians, who have a reputation for diplomatic finesse, or Central Europeans, who are likely familiar with Belarus’ dolorous history and share cultural commonalities with its citizens.
Given the complexity of Holy See-Belarus relations, the Vatican will probably look for a figure with solid diplomatic experience, ideally with considerable knowledge of Russia, Belarus’ giant neighbor and effective master.
A prized relationship
The next nuncio to Belarus will face many challenges. But he will also have an advantage: the Belarusian authorities seem to treasure relations with the Vatican, despite their tense relationship with the local Church.
In March, Lukashenko offered a lyrical tribute to Francis as the pope marked his election anniversary. He suggested Holy See-Belarus relations could be a model for a world mired in “hatred, violence, and injustice.”
On his last visit to the Vatican, in 2016, Lukashenko invited Pope Francis to Belarus. The pope has reportedly expressed interest in visiting the country, attracted perhaps by its peripheral status. But a papal visit would be difficult while war rages over the border with Ukraine, with Belarus hosting Russian forces and nuclear weapons.
What’s next
For years, local Catholic leaders have pushed the Vatican and Belarus to take relations a stage further by signing a concordat, setting Church-state relations on a firm legal footing.
After a farewell meeting with Lukashenko Aug. 23, Jozić noted that “this issue remains for the future.”
A concordat is just one of the items waiting in the next nuncio’s in-tray — and probably not the most pressing, given that the threat of detention hovers daily over the country’s priests.
