Lithuania’s Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius and parliamentary speaker Juozas Olekas resisted calls for an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, BNS reported. Earlier, two local priests were charged with sexual offences against children. Sinkevicius insisted that any investigation was up to Church authorities. Olekas asserted that courts should do their work…
Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius urged the Catholic Church to cooperate in an investigation into child sexual abuse by two local priests, BNS reported. He called for answers on whether the Church had taken sufficient measures to detect, prevent, and report such abuse. “Moral authority mandates the highest standards of responsibility,” he stated. In the…
A majority of members of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, have signed a letter of protest against China’s new “law on ethnic unity,” BNS reported. In the letter sent to the Chinese embassy in Tallinn, the MPs noted that the law was aimed at assimilating ethnic minorities living in China, including Mongols, Tibetans, and Uyghurs….
Lithuania’s incoming new coalition government may try to resume official dialogue with neighbouring Belarus on reopening transport links and trade, The Baltic Sentinel reports. Political analyst Vytautas Bruveris noted that many rural voters of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) and the Lithuanian Union of Farmers and Greens (LVZS), especially in eastern Lithuania, were tired…
Estonia’s Supreme Court has rejected a request from President Alar Karis to declare legislative amendments obliging religious associations to sever their ties with hostile foreign states unconstitutional, ERR reports. Karis had insisted that the amendments violated the Constitution, arguing that the law would place excessive restrictions on freedom of religion and association. However, the Supreme…
Estonian President Alar Karis has asked the Supreme Court to declare proposed amendments to the law regulating religious organisations unconstitutional, ERR reports. Earlier, the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, passed a law to curb the influence of foreign organisations on churches in Estonia. There are concerns over the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church’s (EKÕK) canonical ties to…
Estonia’s Ministry of Interior has instructed the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (MPEÕK) to sever all ties with the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs), ERR reports. In a letter to MPEÕK’s Bishop Daniel (Daniel Lepisk), the ministry’s secretary general, Tarmo Miilits, noted that MPEÕK’s updated statute failed to meet the requirement. Earlier, the Estonian…
The new Lithuanian Exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople of the Eastern Orthodox Church plans to build its own church, possibly in Vilnius, BNS reports. Justinus Kiviloo, head of the exarchate, stated that he was “categorically against” taking over church buildings from the Russian Orthodox Church. He said that the funds to build the…
