Rebuilding the Catholic Church in Georgia

Kira von Bock-Iwaniuk from ACN interviewed Bishop Giuseppe Pasotto of the Apostolic Administration of the Caucasus about his time in Georgia helping the Church to rebuild after communism. Bishop Giuseppe Pasotto is originally from Italy and first arrived in Georgia in 1993.

By ACN Staff

Bishop Giuseppe Pasotto celebrating Holy Mass. (Credit: Ismael Martínez Sánchez/Aid to the Church in Need)

Msgr. Giuseppe Pasotto is the bishop of the Apostolic Administration of the Caucasus and is responsible for the Latin Catholic Church in both Georgia and Armenia. The Italian bishop is a Stigmatine missionary and had initially travelled to Georgia in 1993, shortly after the fall of communism. In 1996, he became an apostolic administrator and, in 2000 a diocesan bishop.

Bishop Giuseppe Pasotto with a puppet of a little bishop. (Credit: Ismael Martínez Sánchez/Aid to the Church in Need)

Kira von Bock-Iwaniuk from ACN interviewed Bishop Pasotto about the situation for the Catholic Church in Georgia. Bishop Pasotto explained that Russia had only recently left Georgia when he first arrived in 1993. Gas, water, and electricity were readily available at first, but after a few months, there was only two hours of electricity a day, water only every other day and no gas at all. The bishop also told a story of trying to buy lemons one day and struggling to find any for sale in the capital city of Tbilisi.

Despite the difficulties, Msgr. Pasotto is glad that he went through these struggles alongside the Georgian people, as it has helped him to be a better shepherd and enables him to relate to and understand the Georgian people:

“I came here together with another priest from my small community of Stigmatines, which was founded in Verona. At the time, we experienced the same hardships as the people living here – particularly the cold and the deprivation. This helped us to love these people even more and to understand the meaning of freedom. Our conversations with young people taught us the importance of suffering for fundamental values and keeping hope alive. Ultimately, we were able to understand the lives of these people even better by learning the Georgian language, which is not exactly the easiest language, and by doing so with hardly any instructional materials at all. We really had to learn a great deal without paying much attention to the hardships that surrounded us. However, it was providential that we were there to experience these times.”

The Church of St. Joseph the Worker in Ude. The church was built in 1998 by a Catholic family and given to the Church in this rural area of inland Georgia. The parish priest is Fr. Andrzej Graczyk. (Credit: Ismael Martínez Sánchez/Aid to the Church in Need)

When he first arrived, Bishop Pasotto found only one Catholic church in the entire country. That was the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Tbilisi. Many of the Catholic faithful were scattered in isolated rural communities with no local priests. The Stigmatines first had to identify and contact these isolated Catholic communities and then find priests to minister to them. Many of these priests came from outside of Georgia. They also started to train catechists.

Bishop Pasotto explained the particular importance of Our Lady in the devotional lives of Georgian Catholics during the communist persecution:

“It seems to me that the rosary saved the Catholic faith not only in Georgia, but in all Communist countries. The people came together in the houses to pray and the grandmothers were the ones who took responsibility. You did not need a priest or a rosary – you could count the “Hail Marys” on your hands.”

Bishop Pasotto also helped in the development of social services by the Church. For example, the local Church and Caritas provided refuge to those displaced by the 2008 war with Russia. Msgr. Pasotto said that he still receives letters of thanks from those the Church helped.

Cathedral of the Assumption in Tbilisi. (Credit: Ismael Martínez Sánchez/Aid to the Church in Need)

One of the biggest focuses for the Catholic Church is to improve relations with the Georgian Orthodox Church. Around 85% of Georgians are Orthodox. Bishop Pasotto explains more:

“The primary challenge that we have to face continues to be ecumenical work. This is our first task and it is a very difficult one. Due to the legacy of its past, the Orthodox Church still has a hard time being open to this. The Catholics are well aware that they are a minority and often face discrimination and unfair treatment. You just need to remember the six churches that were confiscated and never given back, or the prohibition of interfaith marriages. The ecumenical path requires a great deal of patience and the constant search for new and potential opportunities for establishing relationships that could develop into bridges. Our university, where most of the students are non-Catholics, plays an important role in this.”

The bishop is also naturally focused on strengthening the faith of the local Catholics and fostering vocations. There are several young Georgian men in seminary. Training non-Georgian priests to minister in Georgia takes a long time, as the Georgian language is unique and challenging to learn. ACN has played a vital role in supporting the Church in Georgia in all these areas.

Bishop Pasotto wanted to pass on this message to our supporters and benefactors:

“I would like to take the opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to ACN: our thanks to those who work together with us and who are always patient with us; we truly feel loved. One could say that, financially, our Church has almost nothing, but is able to survive each day by trusting in God. We are all called upon to proclaim the gospel but in different ways. Here in Georgia, I learned the value of the word “Catholic”. It is a beautiful thought that we Catholics here can show all of the Churches how wonderful it is to have a heart that knows no bounds, that does not favour anyone but that always looks beyond its own limits. It is beautiful to bear witness for a God who teaches us through His heart to broaden our horizons, to stop concentrating solely on our own interests and instead open up more and more. That is His love for us. And that is what we should bear witness to and teach. That is the good news, the gospel. And for me that it is the colour of Catholicism.”