{"id":493559,"date":"2025-10-27T12:13:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T09:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=493559"},"modified":"2025-10-27T17:24:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T14:24:22","slug":"lukashenko-invites-gugerotti-to-visit-belarus-more-often","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/lukashenko-invites-gugerotti-to-visit-belarus-more-often","title":{"rendered":"Lukashenko Invites Gugerotti to Visit Belarus More Often, Jokes About Sore Knee"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alexander Lukashenko<\/b> met on Monday with Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti<\/b>, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches in the Vatican, who arrived in Belarus to attend celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the Pinsk Diocese. The cardinal had already taken part in festivities over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Greeting Gugerotti, Lukashenko expressed his wish that the cardinal visit Belarus more often. Gugerotti previously served as Apostolic Nuncio to Belarus.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome to Belarus more often, and you\u2019ll live a very long life,\u201d<\/i> Lukashenko said.<\/p>\n

Continuing the conversation, he thanked the cardinal for his visit and suggested discussing bilateral relations with the Vatican.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am fully aware of the details of your visit. I am very glad that you remembered Belarus and that you liked it \u2014 you liked our people, everyone: not only Catholics and Orthodox believers, but others as well. Even Muslims received your visit very warmly. This shows that your time in Belarus, if I may say so, did not pass without a trace. <\/i><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I am sincerely glad to meet with you. I remember all our meetings, talks, and agreements \u2014 those we have fulfilled, and those we haven\u2019t. Today, we can speak frankly and in a friendly way about everything. I\u2019m very happy to meet and discuss any issues that may have accumulated in our relations,\u201d Lukashenko said.<\/p>\n

He also noted the successful development of the cardinal\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been following it closely. I\u2019m very happy for you. I always believe there\u2019s a small piece of the Belarusian soul in your success. So we welcome you here. You can come anytime. I don\u2019t even know what kind of visa you need. He\u2019s practically one of us \u2014 a Belarusian,\u201d<\/i> he added.<\/p>\n

Gugerotti remarked that he still needed a visa, which usually takes around 15 days to obtain.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, we\u2019ll fix that so you can come to Belarus anytime, without any 15 days. You\u2019re not a stranger to us. From a security standpoint, you pose no danger,\u201d<\/i> Lukashenko replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot dangerous, not dangerous. I\u2019m old \u2014 what do you expect?\u201d<\/i> Gugerotti joked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOld? We don\u2019t consider you old. You\u2019re working very actively \u2014 what kind of old age is that?\u201d<\/i> Lukashenko responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you know, my legs hurt sometimes,\u201d<\/i> the cardinal said.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, my knee has been hurting for about 40 years since I played football,\u201d<\/i> Lukashenko replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cExactly \u2014 because we\u2019re footballers, you see\u2026\u201d<\/i> Gugerotti added.<\/p>\n

Cardinal Gugerotti said he was pleased that the Pope had chosen him for the trip to Belarus and that he enjoyed his time in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a celebration in Pinsk, Brest, and Homel. The meetings with people were wonderful. You could see their smiles. I felt there was hope, there were young people, boys, children \u2014 that means they understand the future is bright if we all work together,\u201d<\/i> the cardinal said.<\/p>\n

He also emphasized the importance of dialogue in Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cDialogue is important \u2014 looking into each other\u2019s eyes and realizing that we share the same thing: the soul. Then everything is possible when you feel respect and love for another person. The future is in our hands \u2014 and in God\u2019s hands,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI completely agree,\u201d<\/i> Lukashenko responded.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander Lukashenko met on Monday with Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches in the Vatican, who arrived in Belarus to attend celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the Pinsk Diocese. The cardinal had already taken part in festivities over the weekend. Greeting Gugerotti, Lukashenko expressed his wish that the cardinal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":493558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/68ff809a8c389.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Lukashenko Invites Gugerotti to Visit Belarus More Often, Jokes About Sore Knee"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}