Other events in Baltic States

At the age of 75, Archbishop of Vilnius Metropolitan Cardinal Audrys Juozas Backis sent his letter of resignation to Pope Benedict XVI. According to the Canons of Church, at the age of 75 an archbishop has to resign, even though, it is expected that the Pope would give a permission to Backys to continue serving as an archbishop of Vilnius, reports LETA/ELTA.

"Every person has to complete his mission, which means to seek God's will, find what God wants you to do. I think my path, even though it was winding, it was shown by God, therefore I am going to continue following this path. On the one hand, a person at this age should resign, on the other hand, as apostle Paul said: "On the one hand I would like to go to meet God, on the other, if I still can be useful, I can continue working." This is how I feel," Backis said to the LTV news show Panorama. Audrys Backis was born on February 1, 1937 in Kaunas. The family was forced to stay in the West after the World War II because of Soviet occupation. Backys returned to Lithuania only in 1990. In 1991, Backis was appointed archbishop of Vilnius.