Lithuania has declared three days of mourning over first President Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas’ death.  Condolences over President Brazauskas death are arriving from all over the world, the latest coming from the USA President Barack Obama and the USA State Secretary Hillary Clinton.  Lithuanian politicians and commentators are competing with each other over who will throw a buzz phrase to describe Brazauskas’ significance to Lithuania.  Lithuania’s Catholic Church is one of the very few institutions that have remained quiet over Brazauskas’ death.The Church has broken the silence that caused many to lose their gift of speech: a Holy Mass for the late President will be offered at the Arch-Cathedral Basilica of Vilnius but the coffin with Brazauskas’ remains is not welcome.

It was Brazauskas, then the first secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania, who in 1989 returned the Arch-Cathedral Basilica of Vilnius to the Catholic Church of Lithuania.  The Cathedral was turned into an art gallery by the Soviets.  However, the Church decided to hold the Holy Mass without the Presidents’ coffin. Instead, someone form the Church will consecrate the coffin in the Presidential Palace.

The Bishop Juozas Tunaitis did not elaborate on the decision.  ‘We said so from a very beginning,’ the Bishop said to delfi.lt portal.  Bishop Tunaitis explained that it would be very difficult to control the process of bringing the coffin to the Arch-Cathedral Basilica.  ‘I cannot give you an explanation (for not allowing the coffin in), we had looked into it and decided to offer not to bring (the coffin) into the Arch-Cathedral.  There is a rationale behind it which is known only to us and I cannot and don’t want to explain that to you,’ the Bishop said to the portal Delfi.lt..

 President Dalia Grybauskaite said that she took this news with ‘grievance’.  ‘The decision taken by the hierarchs of the Lithuanian Church probably will stay with their conscience.’ – said Grybauskaite who called Brazauskas her ‘teacher’. 

Former President Valdas Adamkus also expressed his astonishment.  ‘I spoke with the Lithuanian Catholic Church hierarchy expressing my conviction that the remains of President Algirdas Brazauskas should be honoured at Vilnius Cathedral, but I was not heard. It is sad that the church would not open its doors for the coffin,’ said the former President to Lietuvos rytas daily. 

The state funeral of the first President Brazauskas will take place on 1 July. President Brazauskas, who passed away on 26 June, was one of the most popular politicians in Lithuanian throughout most of his career.  The Catholic Church is  the most trusted institution in Lithuania.  An absolute majority of Lithuanians claim to be Catholics.  Algirdas Brazauskas had to take a back door into the Arch-Cathedral Basilica for his inauguration as a first President of Lithuania.  On 23 February 1993 some discontent voters had blocked the main entrance protesting against Brazauskas’, the former Lithuanian Communist Party first secretary, being elected as the President of Lithuania.