Pope Francis is ready to help improve ties between Belarus and the European Union, a senior papal official said on Saturday in the latest sign of a developing thaw in relations between Brussels and Minsk.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, also said discussions were under way for a visit to Vatican City by President Alexander Lukashenko. Roman Catholics make up just over 10 percent of the majority Orthodox Belorussians.
"One can speak of the Belarussian authorities' intentions for great openness in their relations with the EU and the whole world. The Holy See is ready to offer its contribution to this process," Parolin, second in the Vatican hierarchy to Pope Francis, told journalists in Minsk.
Any rapprochement between Belarus and the West is likely to be gradual, however.
Because of his country's rights record, he and some 200 of his supporters banned from travelling to the EU since 2011. He remains broadly aligned with Russia.
Parolin, an experienced Church diplomat before Francis chose him for the post equivalent to a prime minister, was officially in Minsk to bless the cornerstone for a new Vatican embassy.
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