Interfax-Religiia, 5 October 2011
The head of the Catholic archdiocese in Moscow, Paolo Pezzi, expressed concern that on 20 September the authorities of Pskov denied the local Catholic parish of the Holy Trinity a renewal of permission for construction of a church building.
"The reason given was a violation of the standards of the city construction code of the Russian federation, according to which an extension should be denied in the event that construction work has not begun before the expiration of the previous permit," P. Pezzi said in his statement, a copy of which was obtained by Interfax-Religiia on Wednesday.
He thinks that such a reason evokes "extreme amazement with respect to the construction which has been going on for more than ten years now."
"Previously the parish was not able to get from the authorities an answer regarding the status of the plot of land on which the construction is being conducted. The local Catholic parish has been hopefully awaiting completion of the building," the statement says.
According to the archbishop, through the selfless labor of the rector of the parish, with help from numerous donors and efforts of parishioners, a parish house has already been erected and put into service, which constitutes a single ensemble with the church building.
"However now the future of both the church and the parish house have been called into question. One should have in mind that the parish in its time consented to constructing a new church building, although there are legal bases for laying claim to a historic building of a Catholic church that was consecrated in 1857," he noted.
He pointed out that not only among Catholics but also in Russian society as a whole "these events can create an impression of deliberate discrimination against the Catholic community of Pskov," and the archbishop called the authorities of Pskov and Pskov province "to cooperate in achieving a just resolution to this matter." (tr. by PDS, posted 5 October 2011)
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