Information ministry reproaches state newspaper over controversial cartoon that angered Catholic Church

In reply to an online peti­tion, the min­istry says that it has ordered the Min­ska­ja Praŭ­da news­pa­per to ensure that no sim­i­lar con­tent is pub­lished in the future.

The min­istry notes that it has reviewed the car­toon togeth­er with the office of the government’s com­mis­sion­er on reli­gious and eth­nic affairs, con­clud­ing that such con­tent “does not con­tribute to the main­te­nance of inter-faith peace and con­cord in our coun­try.”

Pub­lished in the Sep­tem­ber 7 edi­tion of Min­ska­ja Praŭ­da, the news­pa­per con­trolled by the Min­sk Region­al Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee, the car­toon shows Catholic priests wear­ing swastikas instead of pec­toral cross­es. One of the priests is also pic­tured hold­ing a white-red-white flag.

In a Face­book post, Juryj Sańko, spokesper­son for the Catholic Church in Belarus, said that the news­pa­per “slaps mil­lions of Catholics liv­ing in Belarus in the face.”

Msgr. Sańko wrote that the car­toon insult­ed the Chris­t­ian cross and there­fore all Chris­tians, and pro­mot­ed Nazi sym­bols in vio­la­tion of Belarus’ laws.

The pub­lic dis­play of Nazi sym­bols is penal­ized under Belarus’ Civ­il Offens­es Code. Belarus’ Crim­i­nal Code has an arti­cle that envis­ages penal­ties for incite­ment to reli­gious hatred.