Catholic and Anti-Catholic Traditions in Russia

Abstract

"After an absence of almost 50 years, Catholicism once more exists on Russian soil. Despite the religious diversity of our society and the religious eclecticism of the majority of our contemporaries, no other religious confession appears to arouse such passionate emotions and often indeed outright hostility. Anti-Catholic intolerance cannot simply be explained in the context of a general intolerance of believers of other faiths. Russia now has Muslims, Buddhists and even Protestants, who have encountered difficulties mainly due to their missionary activity. It would seem that the phenomenon of Russian Catholicism today can be explained only if we understand the nature of the problem: what is Catholicism in the context of Russian spiritual and political culture and what does conversion to Catholicism mean to a Russian?"