Georgian Patriarch negative about law on religious confessions legal status

July 6, 2011 - 11:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II offers to suspend parliamentary debate on the bill stipulating provision of legal entity status to several religious units operating in the country.

“I consider it important to hold up the procedures of passing the law in the second and third readings in the Georgian parliament and carry out public debates on this issue, at least by television, so that to shape a single public opinion in consensus with the Orthodox Church, as most population of the country are Orthodox Christians,” says the statement issued by the Catholicos-Patriarch.

The document also noted that this issue “is of paramount importance, determining the main principles of state structure”. Besides, Ilia II stated that the Georgian Orthodox Church never came out against and always supported the idea of granting status to other religions acting in Georgia, according to Interfax.

Georgian parliament introduced amendments to Civil Code on July 1, granting the status of legal persons of public law to 5 religious units - Armenian Apostolic Church, Roman Catholic Church, the Muslim community, the Jewish community and the Baptist church in Georgia.

Law of Georgia defines a legal person of public law as an organization separated from the state bodies, created by the relevant law, enact of the President of Georgia or by the administrative act of state bodies, adopted on the basis of law, which conducts political, state, social, educational, cultural and other public activities. The issue of Armenian Apostolic Church status is in the agenda of the Armenian-Georgian relations. Within the visit of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians to Georgia, the Georgian side offered to provide Georgian Orthodox Church in Armenia the same rights as the Armenian Apostolic Church has in Georgia.