The other day Alaxandar Lukashenka received a medal from the Pope Benedict XVI. The award was brought from Vatican by the cardinal Walter Kasper who heads the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Official mass media have, of course, already trumpeted this epoch-making event all over the world, but in reality the award turned out to be just a souvenir, which is presented to each visitor after an audience with the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
"There wasn't any medal. It was a souvenir in the form of a medal. It is simply a tradition. It is presented as a souvenir at such meetings. No medal has been presented", commented the news the press secretary of the Belarusian Roman Catholic Church priest Aliaxandr Amialchenia.
