Although the organiser of the event, the bishop of Šiauliai, stated that I. Vėgėlė was not specially invited to the Celebration of Families, experts stress that the visits of politicians to church events and political agitation by priests are primarily detrimental to the church itself.
Surprised by the candidate's performance
„And how could the bishop of Šiauliai, Eugenijus Bartulis of the apolitical Church of Šiauliai, not invite the candidate Ignas Vėgėlė on stage during the Celebration of Families by complete accident?“ – asked a Šiauliai resident who shared a photo of the event on social networks.
Bishop Eugenijus Bartulis, the organiser of the 24th annual Celebration of Families, told the news portal lrytas. ls that Vėgėlė was not invited to the Šiauliai arena event.
„He came to the Celebration of Families and said, 'I'd like to congratulate you. I said nobody is forbidden to say hello – whoever wants to say hello does. Please, I say. It was at the very end, with people parting. I say, okay – everybody can speak, everybody was allowed to speak,“ the bishop explained.
However, no more spectators from the stage wanted to speak that day.
„We didn't even see I. Vėgėlė – he just introduced himself at the end,“ said Bartulis.
However, there was no thought of avoiding politics at the church event and not giving the candidate the floor.
„We do not have such a ban because, for example, Gitanas Nausėda, when he was just a presidential candidate, also gave a speech,“ the bishop said.
President Nausėda also participated in this year's Celebration of Families and gave a speech at the beginning of the event. Some members of the Seimas and the mayors of Šiauliai city and district also spoke from the stage.
However, Bartulis is convinced that speeches by politicians and presidential candidates do not turn the Celebration of Families into a political event.
„There was no (politicisation)... For example, Professor Vėgėlė only quoted the words of John Paul II when he came to Lithuania, and he said that this celebration is connected with the thirtieth anniversary of John Paul II's visit to Lithuania. We had also brought this up in the Celebration of Families.
I. Vėgėlė just quoted John Paul II's thoughts and greeted the people, welcomed the meeting – and not a word more,“ the bishop assured.
However, this year's Celebration of Families did not attract as many people as usual.
„Maybe the cold scared them away, they said, and the cars wouldn't start for others. After the pandemic, the number of people was down slightly,“ the bishop admitted.
Undermining the Church itself
Matas Baltrukevičius, associate analyst at the Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis, noted that this situation is very slippery. Still, since this is a diocesan event, the diocese must first take responsibility for what is happening there.
„Sometimes there seems to be a lack of political awareness of the weight such things carry. It is clear that the candidates are trying to make the most of their opportunities,“ M.Baltrukevičius told lrytas.lt.
The analyst stressed that the „ball“ in this case is on the side of the Church.
„There is a canon in Church law that states that priests should not actively participate in the activities of political parties. One might ask why it is so abstract, but then we would lose the context that ecclesiastical law applies and binds Catholics in all world countries“, he stressed.
Baltrukevičius also recalled the high-profile case at the end of last year, when Vilius Sikorskas, the pastor of Išlaužas in the Prienai district, expressed his support for the lawyer I. Vėgėlė during the Shepherd's Mass, which was televised on Christmas Eve.
Although the Lithuanian Bishops' Conference LVK (LBC) has unequivocally stated that the clergy should not engage in political agitation, according to Baltrukevičius, in many cases, a stronger reaction from the LVK would be desirable, especially since such actions by the clergy are most damaging to the Church itself.
„Of course, this is not a violation of church law for which priests should be suspended, but there should certainly be a stricter discussion of such cases.
Because there have been cases in the past where priests seem to be a little bit „on the hook“, sometimes they are taken advantage of. For example, when politicians come to congratulate a priest on his birthday, they take a photo and then put it on a poster.
Caution is needed because not all situations are straightforward, and the state's hands are tied in this case because the state cannot regulate what happens in churches, during masses,“ the analyst said.
However, in this case, M. Baltrukevičius noted, the Lithuanian clergy have not yet gone to such radical lengths as, for example, in neighbouring Poland.
„In Poland, there is this massive confrontation between Law and Justice and the opposition, and, again, some church hierarchs have tried very hard to get involved in these political games, and that is why we are seeing the authority of the Church declining, the attendance of the churches declining.
In Lithuania, this is not yet happening on a systemic level – there are priests and individual clergy. Still, it is not so that their position can be identified with the official position of the Church.
The Lithuanian Bishops' Conference sends out a letter before every election. Still, it never mentions any specific candidates, but urges people to participate in the polls, to vote responsibly, and usually includes a few principles,“ he recalled.
Why are the clergy campaigning for Vėgėlė before these elections when most candidates also favour the Church and traditional values?
„Perhaps Vėgėlė stands out because he appeals most strongly to more socially conservative people; among religious people, there are many socially conservative people.
We can say that Nausėda's target electorate is similar, but Nausėda is not just campaigning on social conservatism – there are many more themes,“ he said.
LVK: priests should not be active in politics
The Lithuanian Bishops' Conference has repeatedly set out in detail the Church's teaching on political agitation and the concrete application of that teaching.
„Priests are called to proclaim the Gospel and to serve the communities they are entrusted with, and therefore they should not take an active part in politics and the activities of political parties unless, by the decision of the competent ecclesiastical authority, it is necessary to defend the rights of the church or to promote the common good, as stated in the Code of Canon Law,“ K. Smilgevičus said in response to the lrytas—lt portal.
The Secretary General of the Lithuanian Bishops' Conference pointed out that the Church supports all goodwill initiatives and does not exclude people of any political persuasion as long as they do not contradict the Church's teaching.
