Today, May 27, Belarusian human rights defender, former political prisoner and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski was received in audience by Pope Leo XIV (@Pontifex) at the Vatican.
Bialiatski was accompanied by his wife, Natallia Pinchuk. During the meeting he both spoke personally with the Pontiff and handed him a written message describing the situation in Belarus.
The audience had been in preparation for several months. As @OSVNews reported back in April 2026, Pope Leo XIV had expressed his wish to meet the Belarusian Nobel laureate, but no date had been set — Bialiatski was still recovering after four and a half years behind bars, and the possibility to travel to Rome came only now.
Bialiatski was released from a Belarusian penal colony and forcibly expelled from the country in December 2025, after serving four and a half years of a ten-year sentence handed down for his human rights work.
@viasna96@HolySeePress@yambrazevich@BelarusMFA
Can you imagine any democratic country where Christian preaching myst be allowed by a president or any other high political leader. The very fact that @Franklin_Graham needed permission of Lukashenko to preach says a lot about how strongly religious communities are pressured.
Can you imagine any democratic country where Christian preaching myst be allowed by a president or any other high political leader. The very fact that @Franklin_Graham needed permission of Lukashenko to preach says a lot about how strongly religious communities are pressured.
A first in Belarus! Evangelist @Franklin_Graham was allowed by President Lukashenko to preach - 2 nights, each night 15,000+ - watch my podcast interview https://t.co/KPXUF7zNXN
Franklin Graham in Minsk called for prayer for Lukashenko and Putin.
American preacher Franklin Graham, speaking at the "Festival of Hope" in Minsk, Belarus on May 16, kept his promise to pray for Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country with dictatorial methods since 1994 and holds nearly a thousand political prisoners, including Christians. He also called for prayer for Vladimir Putin, who unleashed the war in Ukraine, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
“The Bible tells us to do something. The Bible tells us that we should pray for those in authority. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 tells us to do that. We now know we've had a prayer for your leadership. I told your president yesterday, I told President Lukashenko that we would all stand. And what I'm gonna ask you to do is we'll stand... And I want you to pray out loud for your president, for those that are in authority. If you're here from Russia, you pray for President Putin. Those that are in authority in your country.”
"Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for this privilege to be here tonight, we pray for President Lukashenko, we pray for all those that are in authority in this country. We pray that You guide and direct their steps. Father, we thank You for tonight, for each one that is here. We pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen", he prayed.
@Bibipkade Там еще нужно сообщить всю информацию по типу коляски, размерам, своему весу. Я была в шоке, насколько это дремучее всё. Друг так и не смог пересесть на свой второй поезд из-за опоздания первого, вынужден был до места региональными добираться по маршруту.
@Bibipkade В Германии в 21 веке колясочникам всё еще нужно за сутки заказывать свою посадку в поезд и высадку из него. Звонить по специальному телефону. Потом к определенному времени человек должен подъехать в специальное место, и дальше его везут. Я как-то коллеге помогала организовать.
Прикиньте, из Беларуси выкидывают не только польских ксендзов, но и российских священников. Не просто не дали разрешение на служение, а поставили запрет на въезд.
Russian priest Anthony Bondarev, served in Belarus as a cleric of the Minsk Diocese since 2024, was banned from entering the country and forced to leave his Minsk parish.
31 years old priest, who is a Russian citizen, in 2023 graduated from Kyiv theological academy.
A Christian pacifist who died in a Russian prison colony was found hanged in a punishment cell.
An investigator informed the father of Khristolyub Vegan, a political prisoner who died in prison, on April 20 that the preacher was found hanged in a punishment cell at Correctional Colony No. 2 in Voronezh.
Khristolyub's father doesn't believe he committed suicide. He says his son said he would go on a hunger strike if he were persecuted. Khristolyub was a believer and did not condone violent death. His family believes he could only have died from a hunger strike if he had been severely persecuted.
In January, the preacher went on a dry hunger strike in Penal Colony No. 2 for nine days and lost 10 kilograms. He declared the hunger strike after being placed in solitary confinement in Penal Colony No. 2 immediately after being transferred to a general-regime penal colony from a penal settlement. After nine days of hunger strike, he was placed in a general-regime cell, where he remained for over three months. In early April, his father spoke with Khristolyub by phone; all was relatively normal, but he was soon placed back in solitary confinement, where he died.
A Christian pacifist has died in a Russian prison
Anti-war preacher Khristolyub Vegan died in a penal colony in Voronezh, Russia. His father received a call from the colony asking him to come and collect his body on Monday, April 20. A prison officer declined to disclose the circumstances or cause of death.
In February 2025, Khristolyub was sentenced to three years in a penal colony on charges of insulting the feelings of believers (Part 1, Article 148 of the Criminal Code) and rehabilitating Nazism (Clause "c" of Parts 2 and 4, Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code). He was charged with the former charge for a video containing crude statements about Islam. The charge of rehabilitating Nazism stemmed from statements about the recruitment of prisoners to fight in Ukraine. Khristolyub also posted videos on his YouTube channel condemning the war in Ukraine and criticizing the Russian authorities and Vladimir Putin. In his final statement, the preacher noted that for three years he had "used all his resources, strength, means, and opportunities to stop the Russian-Ukrainian war."
According to the court's sentence, he was required to report to the penal colony-settlement on October 13, 2025. Instead, he held an anti-war picket on that day. After the picket, he was detained and arrested for forced escort to his prison.
He had been held in Voronezh Correctional Colony No. 2 since January 2026, after a court decision to tighten the regime; he was transferred there from the penal colony-settlement.
The political prisoner was subject to strict conditions in the colony. He was regularly punished with "violations" and sent to solitary confinement. Khristolyub feared that they were going to let him rot in the colony.
Кто разбирается в твитерском премиуме? У меня на одном из аккаунтов был, к нему была привязана карта, но на следующий год не прошла оплата, об этом приходит мейл каждый, в котором написано, что оплата не проходит и нужно обновить данные карты.
Вторая проблема в твиттере, с которой я столкнулась несколько дней назад: принудительный перевод всех твитов и комментариев на немецкий язык. Прочитать оригинал на на любом другом языке я могу только если нажимаю на «прочитать оригинал». Облазила все настройки, ничего не помогает