Russia blocks second Catholic bishop

A leading Roman Catholic cleric in Russia has described as a threat to freedom of conscience the authorities' decision to expel a newly-appointed bishop based in Siberia.

Father Igor Kovalevskiy the Secretary-General of the Catholic Bishops Confederation in Russia said he hoped the incident was not the start of persecution of the Church.

Bishop Jerzy Mazur was deported to his native Poland on Friday after arriving in Moscow on his way to his diocese in Irkutsk.

Another new appointee, the Italian-born Bishop of Vladimir Stephano Caprio was denied entry last week.

The Catholic Church raised its apostolic administrations in Russia to fully-fledged dioceses in February, despite protests from the Kremlin and the Orthodox Church, which accused it of trying to poach believers.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service