Replies

How much of this is persecution of Catholics (eastern) because they are Catholics vs. persecution of people who are suspected of aiding the "enemy" -- Pro-Ukranian nationalist forces -- who happen to be Catholic (eastern)? I know some of each is occurring but don't have a handle on the proportions.

Concerning western Catholicism, I noticed on reading Wikipedia that Russia itself has four dioceses for Catholics of the Latin Rite, including 1 archdiocese.

because they are Catholics vs. persecution of people who are suspected of aiding the "enemy"

The RF under Putin has mentally gone back to the Soviet days. The period of relative liberalization of 1991-2013 is over. The Soviet mentality is that any one Catholic is a foreign agent, simply because he is Catholic.

There are only around 140,000 Roman Catholics in Russia (0.1% of the total Russian population). Catholicism has never had much influence in Russia, it's considered an unwanted foreign faith in Russia culture, and anyone who is Catholic and living in Russia is viewed with suspicion and distrust. A 2004 Ecumenical conference for Russia's "traditional religions" had representatives from Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism, but not Catholic or protestant churches.

The Russian Orthodox patriarch refuses to meet with the Pope and John Paul II never visited Russia his entire pontificate (although he did visit other strongly Orthodox countries like Greece and Bulgaria) because of resistance from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Ansel12 is correct, anyone who claims Putin stands up for the religious freedom of Christians or supports building up Catholic denominations in Russia is parroting pro-Putin propaganda. The reality is that Putin is a member of the state church, and would like to purge all Christians from Ukraine who do not pledge allegiance to the Moscow Patriarchate.