VATICAN CITY (UCAN) -- Pope John Paul II's letter to the president of Russia on the expulsion of a Catholic missioner bishop of a Siberian diocese has remained unanswered after nearly two months, a Vatican official said.

Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's secretary for relations with states, made the remark June 21, noting that President Vladimir Putin has not responded to the pope's May 8 letter. The Vatican official described such lack of response as "incomprehensible."

The letter cited the expulsion of Polish-born Bishop Jerzy Mazur of Irkutsk, who was told by immigration authorities upon arrival at Moscow's Sheremetevo international airport April 19 that he was not allowed to officially enter the country.

After several hours at the airport, he was put on a plane back to Warsaw from where he had come.

The following day Archbishop Tauran said he wrote a letter to the Russian minister of Foreign Affairs expressing the Holy See's surprise and requesting an explanation.

He said as his letter remained unanswered, the pope wrote directly to President Putin May 8, but as of the end of June no answer had been received from Russia.

Archbishop Tauran said the Russian Federation is a signatory to the 1989 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe that respects the right of religious communities in member states to choose, nominate and replace their own personnel according to their respective requirements.

He added that the presence of Bishop Mazur is necessary for the spiritual welfare of the Catholic community in Irkutsk, and consequently the Vatican has the right to demand that Russia allows him to return to his diocese.

Since 1999, Divine Word Bishop Mazur had been in charge of about 50,000 Catholics in the world's largest diocese territory-wise covering 10 million square kilometers, stretching through five time zones.

In April, Russian authorities revoked the visa of Italian Father Stefano Caprio, a missioner in Moscow. Father Caprio, after a short trip to his native Italy, was denied a permit to return to Russia where he had been living for nine years. He used to work in a parish in Moscow.

According to Church sources, the Russian authorities' moves against the Catholic clergy came as a result of pressure from nationalist movements and the Russian Orthodox Church, but the latter denies involvement.

Tensions have run high between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church since Feb. 11, when Pope John Paul elevated four apostolic administrations in the Russian Federation to dioceses. The Orthodox Church views the move as an invasion of their canonical territory.

On June 29 the Italian news agency, ANSA, cited an article in the Russian newspaper "Izvestia" as reporting that Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow has resumed negotiations with the Catholic Church.

The news came about after the visit of an Italian Church delegation headed by Archbishop Luigi Bressan of Trent. It was the first encounter with a member of the Catholic hierarchy after the tension of the last few months since the Vatican established four dioceses in the Russian territory.

Russia is not the only country where the Catholic Church experiences difficulties.

The 2002 report just released by the Aid to the Church in Need, a Germany-based international pastoral aid organization of the Catholic Church, says that China, North Korea, Laos and Vietnam are Asian countries where religious freedom is not observed.

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