Belarusian authorities have expelled nearly 20 Polish Catholic priests this year amid a campaign to 'Belarusize' the Church

Belarusian authorities have refused to renew the religious-service permits of roughly 20 Polish Catholic priests since the beginning of the year, prompting a wave of departures that parishioners and clergy describe as unprecedented in scale. The affected priests include clergy who have lived and worked in Belarus for decades — building churches, founding parishes from scratch, publishing religious materials, teaching in seminaries and conducting services in Belarusian — and who until now were fixtures of local Catholic life.

The mechanism for forcing the departures has typically been administrative. Foreign clergy holding Polish citizenship must obtain permission from Belarusian authorities to serve; these permits are issued for limited periods and must be renewed. When the state chooses to remove a priest it simply does not extend his permit. Officials generally offer no public explanation. Legally, a foreign priest could remain in Belarus without the permit, but he would no longer be able to perform pastoral duties, effectively compelling him to return to his country of citizenship.

A Belarusian priest who spoke to Svaboda under the name Andrei (name changed for safety) said the short-term nature of many permits — sometimes as brief as three months — leaves priests perpetually vulnerable. According to him, the only reliable way for a foreign clergyman to secure long-term ministry in Belarus is to obtain Belarusian citizenship, a path some have taken, including former seminary rector ксёндз Ян Саламон and monk Аркадзь Куляха. But for many, citizenship was never an option after decades of service.

The latest wave of non-renewals included a high-profile case in August when 11 priests from the Minsk–Mohilev diocese were reported not to have had their permissions extended. Bishop Юзаф Станеўскі appealed directly to President Alexander Lukashenko seeking to retain those clergymen. Among the priests affected was ксёндз Раман Шульц, who had served in Belarus for 19 years and was farewelled by parishioners in Mahilyow. Earlier in the year, similar non-renewals were reported in the Grodno, Vitebsk and Pinsk dioceses, affecting priests who had worked in Belarus for 20, 30 or even 36 years.

Andrei told Svaboda he believes the expulsions are less about religion itself and more about the regime’s desire to establish political and personnel control over the Catholic Church. He emphasized two drivers: public statements by Lukashenko rejecting priests sent from Poland — notably the February 2025 remark «ня трэба з Польшчы нам прысылаць сьвятароў» — and a post-2020 tendency by the authorities to view any independent institution as potentially dangerous. Lukashenko has said he wants “сваіх” priests — “патрыётаў”, чые «карані павінны быць тут», language Andrei interprets as a demand for clergy loyalty to the state rather than to international church structures.

The expulsions are also historically rooted. Polish priests helped revive Catholic life in Belarus after the Soviet era, when seminarians and clergy were repressed and local seminaries were closed. In the 1990s and 2000s, many Polish clergy came to reconstruct parishes and to provide pastoral care in regions with significant Polish-speaking congregations. Mass expulsions of Polish priests occurred previously in 2006–2008, when 12 priests and eight nuns were forced to leave. Since 2020, amid widespread protests and the state’s harsh crackdown on dissent, priests who spoke against violence or supported persecuted people have increasingly faced pressure, including arrests, court cases and administrative expulsions.

Parishioners and local clergy say the loss goes beyond liturgical services. The departing priests were central to cultural and educational life — running music workshops, organizing exhibitions and concerts, translating and publishing religious literature, and sometimes teaching in Belarusian. “They contributed not only religiously but culturally, bringing a humanist element into society,” Andrei said. He added that many Polish priests learned Belarusian and used the language in pastoral work, an investment that is now being cut short by the current policy.

The Catholic Church in Belarus has not publicly commented on the state’s decisions, and most of the expelled priests have not issued public statements about their departures. Observers say the use of administrative non-renewals allows the state to reduce foreign influence in the Church while avoiding overt clashes with the Vatican; Andrei noted that Minsk has pursued diplomatic contacts with the Holy See, citing later interventions that led to the release of clergy such as Генрых Акалатовіч and Андрэй Юхневіч in November 2025. For parishioners and for the broader question of religious freedom in Belarus, the expulsions mark a significant tightening of control over an institution that has long served both spiritual and civic roles in Belarusian communities.