Pope mourns Belarusian Cardinal and brother of Cardinal Bertone

(July 22, 2011) Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his sorrow at the death of retired Belarusian Cardinal Kazimierz Swiatek, Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 96. The late cardinal retired just five years ago after more than 65 years of active ministry and several run-ins with the Soviet police. In a condolence message sent to Bishop Aleksander Kaskiewiecz of Grodno, president of the Catholic bishop’s conference of Belarus, the Pope recalled “the courageous witness he gave to Christ and his church in particularly difficult times, as well as the enthusiasm with which he later contributed to the spiritual rebirth of his country." Cardinal Swiatek was born Oct. 21, 1914, into a Polish family in Valga, now in Estonia. When he was a young boy, he and his family were exiled to Siberia by the Russian Czar. The whole family was allowed to return to Belarus after the 1917 Russian Revolution, and he was ordained to the priesthood in 1939. Two years later, Soviet police condemned him to death, but he escaped and resumed his pastoral work when Nazi Germany's army invaded Belarus in June 1941. But in 1944, when Belarus fell to Russia, he was arrested again, sentenced to 10 years in a labour camp and sent back to Siberia. Released in 1954, Cardinal Swiatek ministered in Pinsk until 1991 when Pope John Paul II created the Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev and named him archbishop. Made cardinal in 1994, he continued to serve as archbishop until his retirement 2006 when he was already past the age of 91.
Meanwhile on Friday, Paolo Bertone, brother of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, also passed away and Pope Benedict sent a condolence message to the prelate, his late brother’s family and his surviving brother and sister. The 76-year old cardinal who hails from Romano Canvese in northwest Italy, had 7 brothers and sisters, of whom only two are surviving.