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The Vatican announced Monday a major leadership transition in a small but historically significant community within the Catholic Church in Belarus.
The Holy See press office said Sept. 14 that Pope Leo XIV had accepted the resignation of 77-year-old Archimandrite Jan Sergiusz Gajek, M.I.C., as head of the apostolic administration for Byzantine Rite Catholics in Belarus.
It added that the pope had appointed Fr. Liavoncij Tumouski, M.S.U., 53, as Gajek’s successor.
Who are the Byzantine Rite Catholics of Belarus? And what’s the significance of the leadership change?
Who are Belarus’ Byzantine Rite Catholics?
The Belarusian Greek Catholic Church is one of the smallest of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome. It has around 5,000 members in the Eastern European nation of Belarus, as well as thousands more living in the diaspora.
Byzantine Rite Catholicism has deep historical roots in Belarus. But the community today is a minority within a minority. Most of the country’s roughly 9 million people identify as Eastern Orthodox. Fewer than 10% of Belarusians are Catholics and most belong to the Latin Catholic
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