{
    "id": 648,
    "date": "2025-11-21T11:28:02",
    "date_gmt": "2025-11-21T11:28:02",
    "guid": {
        "rendered": "https:\/\/ewtnromania.com\/2025\/11\/21\/belarus-pardons-2-catholic-priests-after-vatican-talks\/"
    },
    "modified": "2025-11-21T11:28:02",
    "modified_gmt": "2025-11-21T11:28:02",
    "slug": "belarus-pardons-2-catholic-priests-after-vatican-talks",
    "status": "publish",
    "type": "post",
    "link": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/belarus-pardons-2-catholic-priests-after-vatican-talks\/",
    "title": {
        "rendered": "Belarus Pardons 2 Catholic Priests After Vatican Talks"
    },
    "content": {
        "rendered": "<div class=\"faq-summary\">\n<p><strong>Q: What is the main news in this article?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: Belarus has pardoned and released two Catholic priests, Father Henrykh Akalatovich and Father Andzej Yukhnevich, after talks between Belarusian leaders and the Vatican.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Q: Why were these priests imprisoned?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: Father Akalatovich was sentenced for &#8220;high treason,&#8221; a charge he denies as a &#8220;gross provocation,&#8221; while Father Yukhnevich was sentenced for alleged abuse of minors, which he also denied.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Q: Why did Belarus decide to pardon them now?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: The pardons are described as an act of &#8220;goodwill&#8221; following intensified contacts with the Vatican and aligning with the Roman Catholic Church&#8217;s jubilee year, with Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti&#8217;s visit potentially playing a role.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Q: What does this say about religious freedom in Belarus?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: While the pardons are a positive step, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom previously reported that religious freedom in Belarus has been &#8220;trending negatively,&#8221; with the government exerting tight control over society and closing churches critical of the regime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nThis is a summary of the article from https:\/\/ewtnvatican.com\/articles\/belarus-pardons-two-catholic-priests-vatican-talks. Visit this link to view more.\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"JY3ETSn80P\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ewtnvatican.com\/articles\/belarus-pardons-two-catholic-priests-vatican-talks\">Belarus pardons 2 Catholic priests after talks with Vatican<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Belarus pardons 2 Catholic priests after talks with Vatican&#8221; &#8212; EWTN Vatican\" src=\"https:\/\/ewtnvatican.com\/articles\/belarus-pardons-two-catholic-priests-vatican-talks\/embed#?secret=udr3Ycb4PC#?secret=JY3ETSn80P\" data-secret=\"JY3ETSn80P\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>",
        "protected": false
    },
    "excerpt": {
        "rendered": "<p>Q: What is the main news in this article? A: Belarus has pardoned and released two Catholic priests, Father Henrykh Akalatovich and Father Andzej Yukhnevich, after talks between Belarusian leaders and the Vatican. Q: Why were these priests imprisoned? A: Father Akalatovich was sentenced for &#8220;high treason,&#8221; a charge he denies as a &#8220;gross provocation,&#8221; [&hellip;]<\/p>",
        "protected": false
    },
    "author": 1,
    "featured_media": 650,
    "comment_status": "open",
    "ping_status": "open",
    "sticky": false,
    "template": "",
    "format": "standard",
    "meta": {
        "footnotes": ""
    },
    "categories": [
        1
    ],
    "tags": [],
    "class_list": [
        "post-648",
        "post",
        "type-post",
        "status-publish",
        "format-standard",
        "has-post-thumbnail",
        "hentry",
        "category-uncategorized"
    ],
    "_links": {
        "self": [
            {
                "href": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648",
                "targetHints": {
                    "allow": [
                        "GET"
                    ]
                }
            }
        ],
        "collection": [
            {
                "href": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"
            }
        ],
        "about": [
            {
                "href": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"
            }
        ],
        "author": [
            {
                "embeddable": true,
                "href": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"
            }
        ],
        "replies": [
            {
                "embeddable": true,
                "href": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"
            }
        ],
        "version-history": [
            {
                "count": 0,
                "href": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions"
            }
        ],
        "wp:featuredmedia": [
            {
                "embeddable": true,
                "href": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650"
            }
        ],
        "wp:attachment": [
            {
                "href": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"
            }
        ],
        "wp:term": [
            {
                "taxonomy": "category",
                "embeddable": true,
                "href": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648"
            },
            {
                "taxonomy": "post_tag",
                "embeddable": true,
                "href": "https:\/\/ewtn.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648"
            }
        ],
        "curies": [
            {
                "name": "wp",
                "href": "https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}",
                "templated": true
            }
        ]
    }
}