Bishop Sipovich new file

50 Six months had passed since the Belarusian priests’ letter and there was no answer from Rome. On 25 March 1952 a ceremony was held to bless the new Belarusian students’ house at Leuven (Louvain). The blessing was performed by Cardinal Eugene Tisserant who came from Rome specially for this occasion. The Belarusian priests Sipovich, Haroshka and Charniauski, who were also present, took this opportunity to raise once again the question of the Apostolic Visitor for Belarusians. On the following day they met Bishop Sloskans, who told them that on 9 January he had been called to the Apostolic Nunciature in Brussels and asked whether he would agree to become Apostolic Visitor for Belarusians of both rites. Sloskans gave his consent but after that heard nothing. The priests also had a meeting with Cardinal Tisserant who said that, while himself in favour of one Apostolic Visitor for both rites, in the case of the Roman (Latin) rite the consent of the Consistorial Congregation was needed. All this Father Sipovich described to Father Tatarynovich in a letter of 31 March 1952. After such great expectations, the letter of Bishop Sloskans, dated 13 June 1952 to Sipovich, Haroshka and other priests, must have been something of a shock. In it the Bishop informed them that on 24 May the Holy Father appointed him Apostolic Visitor for Belarusians and Russians of the Byzantine (Eastern) rite in Western Europe, except Italy. This news was conveyed to him in a letter from the Oriental Congregation of 29 May. Since the letter said nothing about his competences, he asked that his appointment should be kept secret for a moment. This was not what Belarusians expected. They were disappointed that the Roman rite faithful were not included, and did not in the least like being placed "in one basket" with the Russians, foreseeing nothing but difficulties and complications. Their forebodings proved right sooner that they expected. On 7 July 1952, the feast of SS Cyril and Methodius according to the Roman calendar, Pope Pius XII published his Apostolic letter "Sacro vergente anno", directed "to all peoples of Russia (ad universos Russiae populos)" and consecrating them to the Immaculate Heart of Mary the Mother of God. The letter caused consternation among Belarusians and Ukrainians. It was not the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that made them anxious, but the equivocal terminology used by the Pope. Indeed "peoples of Russia" was very reminiscent of the old imperial Russian doctrine of one Russian nation consisting of three branches, namely Great Russians (i. e. Russians in the proper sense of the word), Little Russians (Ukrainians) and White Russians (Belarusians). In the light of this doctrine, which was shared by most Russians irrespective of their political orientation, Belarusians and Ukrainians who affirmed separate national identities and the right to an independent existence were nothing but separatists who wanted to shatter the unity of the Russian nation. The terminology used by the Pope in his Letter seemed to give support to this point of view. Indeed that is how it was understood by Russians, as could be seen from the reports in their press. Thus the Brussels-based Russian Catholic journal Russki Katolicheski Vestnik (Russian Catholic Messenger) wrote in its July-August issue that the Papal letter was addressed to the "Russian peoples". Incidentally in the same issue Russians jumped the gun by announcing the appointment of Bishop Sloskans as Apostolic Visitor for Russians alone. The reaction of the Ukrainian and Belarusian press to the Papal letter was critical, ranging from perplexity to hostility. It was up to the clergy to start a "damage limitation exercise". Bishop Ivan Buchko, the Apostolic Visitor for Ukrainians in Western Europe, openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the Apostolic Letter, but