Russian Catholics surprised at government raids on churches, charities

12 April, 2013 - Russia's Catholic Church expressed surprise and concern after a wave of raids on its parishes and charities, part of a government clampdown on organizations with foreign links. "The Catholic Church is classified as an organization benefitting from foreign funds," explained Catholic priest, Father Kirill Gulbunov, spokesman for Moscow’s Catholic Archdiocese, who added, "We can't help feeling surprised that associations linked with our church are viewed as possible sources of extremism or terrorist activity." Father Gulbunov spoke to Catholic News Service on Tuesday, when security agents raided the Moscow offices of Caritas, the Catholic charitable agency. On April 3, government agents "inspected" Caritas headquarters in St. Petersburg. Father Gulbunov had been told it was to be "checked" just before the raid took place. Russian newspapers said the Russian Orthodox Church had not been affected by the raids.
In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered checks on thousands of nongovernmental organizations and the seizing of computers and documents, under a July 2012 law requiring groups with outside funding to register as "foreign agents." Russia's million-strong Catholic Church has long complained of discrimination in Russia and protested when a Moscow charity house belonging to Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity was bulldozed in 2011 and a Catholic parish in was Pskov barred from building its church because of "legal technicalities." (Source: CNS)