Lithuanian Catholic Church apologizes for its mistakes

VILNIUS (BNS) - On behalf of Christian society, the Lithuanian Catholic Church has apologized before God for its mistakes, including the Lithuanian nation's indifference to the Holocaust.

The chairman of the Lithuanian Bishops Conference, Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, presented the Lithuanian clergy's letter of Repentance and Apology to journalists on April 14.

"The Holy Father was the first to set an example on March12 during a special ceremony held to present an Apology asking God's forgiveness for mistakes committed by Catholics in the past," the letter of Apology reads.

"The children of the Church sometimes resorted to improper means for spreading and defending the faith in Lithuania. In the course of centuries the Church failed to put up appropriate resistance against being drawn into ethnic strifes."

The Bishops regret that "some children of the Church had failed to show compassion to persecuted Jews during WWII, for their failure to use all available means to defend them, and what's more, for showing lack of determination to influence those who collaborated with the Nazis.

"Some people lacking Christian love and compassion are trying to incite once again all past anti-Semitic manifestations still painfully haunting the Church's memory today," the letter reads.

About 95 per cent of the 220,000-strong Lithuanian Jewish community was exterminated during Nazi occupation.

The letter of Repentance and Apology voices concern about human weakness, fear or even seeking personal gains by adapting to criminal occupational regimes and collaborating with the colonizers.

The Archbishop of Vilnius, Audrys Backis, told journalists that not all sins committed by the Church had been mentioned in the letter.

"The Church apologizes for certain matters which are typical of our country, matters which weigh heavily on our conscience. We think that we must repent sincerely for it," Backis said.

Lithuanian Christians offered their Apology and Repentance at a Holy Mass offered at the Vilnius Catholic Cathedral at midday on April 15.

The Lithuanian Bishop's Conference made a public apology earlier this year for collaboration with the Soviet KGB by some Catholic priests.