Moscow To Have New Archbishop [
cwnews.com]
Vatican, Sep. 21, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has named a new archbishop for Moscow, moving the current archbishop to new responsibilities in Minsk, Belarus.
Father Paolo Pezzi, the rector of the Catholic seminary in St. Petersburg-- which serves all 4 Catholic dioceses in Russia-- will become the 2nd head of the Moscow see that was created in 2002 and formally known as the Mother of God archdiocese. (Although the archdiocese is centered in Moscow, the Vatican did not want to suggest a conflict of jurisdiction with the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow.)
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, who came to Moscow as apostolic administrator in 1991 and became the first head of the Mother of God archdiocese, will become Archbishop of Minsk, succeeding Cardinal Kazimierz Swiatek, who stepped down last June at the age of 91.
The twin appointments confirm a report first published in the Italian daily Il Giornale, and carried on CWN on September 7.
Msgr. Pezzi received his doctorate from the Lateran University in Rome, writing his dissertation on the Catholics of Siberia. He is the former editor of a Catholic newspaper in Novosibirsk, and the Russian coordinator of the lay movement Communion and Liberation. According to Il Giornale, his appointment was quietly approved by both the Russian government and the Orthodox patriachate.
Archbishop Kondrusiewicz will preside at the episcopal consecration of Msgr. Pezzi in Moscow. This will be the 2nd time he has ordained his successor as archbishop. In 1991, after a 2-year stint as apostolic administrator of Minsk, he presided at the consecration of the future Cardinal Swiatek there.
