Describing the current situation in Russia as “very like the atheist Soviet Union,” a lay Catholic professor in Russia said that the nation’s Catholic bishops barred publication of the Pope’s March 6 Angelus address, during which he condemned aggression against Ukraine.

The bishops reportedly did so because they feared “harm, damage, and persecution” under a new Russian censorship law, under which those who describe the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “war” or “invasion” face 15 years in prison.