Russian Patriarch Kirill spoke about the conflict in Ukraine with Pope Francis. The news, released by the church in Moscow, confirms that between the two churches the channels remain open at the highest levels, and perhaps it could also produce some results on the dialogue front, given Kirill’s close loyalty to Vladimir Putin. “The parties underlined the exceptional importance of the ongoing negotiation process, expressing their hope for the achievement of a just peace as soon as possible,” said the Patriarchate of Moscow. «A detailed discussion of the situation on Ukrainian soil took place. Particular attention – explains the Patriarchate – was paid to the humanitarian aspects of the current crisis and to the actions of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church to overcome its consequences “.
Contact after Kirill’s disconcerting statements about the conflict
Francis and Kirill had met in Cuba in February 2016 – after years of endless negotiations and postponements – and another meeting was scheduled (perhaps for July) as the Russian ambassador to the Holy Headquarters, Alexander Avdeev, who among other things the Pope had then met unexpectedly, and outside any diplomatic practice, in his embassy headquarters in via della Conciliazione two days after the start of the attack. Kirill is a loyalist of the Kremlin regime, so much so that on March 6, after the war had begun, he said during a mass that he identified the ongoing conflict as a struggle for good against the promotion of sinful and contrary to the Christian faith models of life, carried forward from the West. A striking example: gay pride
For the Patriarch, the faults lie with NATO
Not only that: a few days ago it increased, and attributed the blame for the conflict to NATO. In short, for the head of Russian Orthodoxy (200 million faithful) what is underway is not an attack, but in some ways a defensive operation. Especially since an unprecedented russophobia is spreading in the western world. An intervention that arrived the day after the letter with which Ioan Sauca ad interim secretary general of the Ecumenical Council of the Church (Cec), an organization of which the Patriarchate of Moscow is a part, invited him to intervene to stop the war.
Parolin Mass for Peace, with ambassadors from Russia and Ukraine present
But what happens inside the Vatican walls is often outside any traditional scheme. Today the Mass celebrated by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin for peace in Ukraine was held in St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Altar of the Chair. And to attend the liturgy the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See: in the front rows there are among others the Russian ambassador Alexander Avdeev and the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Yurash. Alongside them, among the Vatican representatives, the substitute for General Affairs Msgr. Edgar Pena Parra and the Secretary for Relations with States Msgr. Paul Richard Gallagher.