He condemns himself to be treated as an apostate, the religious equivalent of a political traitor.

This is the extent to which Russia will go in silencing those within the Orthodox Church who have not whole-heartedly backed its invasion of Ukraine.

The latest victim of this systematic purge is a man named Ioann Koval.

This previously unknown priest in an ordinary parish - St Andrew's in Lyublino, a district of Moscow - was suspended from the priesthood simply because he did not use his pulpit to call for more bloodshed.

What happened?

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow last September 25 instituted a liturgical invocation of his own invention: "Behold, the battle is being waged against Holy Rus' to divide its undivided people. Rise up O God, for the help of thy people, and grant us victory by your power."

He solemnly added this obligatory and bellicose supplication to the long anthology of his anti-gospel formulas.

Koval is involuntarily the living proof of this unity of Orthodox Slavs.

He was born in 1978 in the city of Luhansk in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

He studied piano and theology in Moscow, where he met and married his wife, a Russian who teaches literature. Koval, who is the father of five children, was ordained in 2004 and dedicated his ministry to patients in psychiatric hospitals.

He was then assigned as the second parish priest of Saint Andrew's, and it was there that he began to publicly substitute the word "peace" for the word "victory" in the spirit of the Beatitudes.

A denunciation

A campaign against the priest began in January, likening him to Judas Iscariot.

A sacristan at the parish who is linked to a network of informers the patriarchate has set up, denounced Koval to the parish rector, Archpriest Victor Shkaburin, who is a Putin apparatchik and more a follower of military marches than monastic chant.

The wheels of clerical bureaucracy, an obsequious relay of the Kremlin, were then set in motion.

The cautious episcopal vicar, Archbishop Matfei Kopylov, phoned Father Koval and told him he was suspended.

The ban was put into effect on February 2nd by an order of Patriarch Kirill.

It was stated that the priest, who was guilty of who knew what would be brought before the ecclesial court.

At the end of March, under the aegis of the protopresbyter Nikolai Inozemtsev - rector of the Church of Our Lady of Kazan on Red Square - a disciplinary commission was sent to St Andrew's to investigate.

What it actually did was collect a handful of hostile gossip and ignore the numerous testimonies that confirmed Koval's pastoral dedication.

The stage was set for a remake of the Stalinist trials in the courtroom of the high priest of "all Russia".

The sentence fell on May 11.

The five judges wearing sumptuous pectoral crosses voted unanimously against Koval.

The priest, not yet aware of the secret indictment, was summoned to appear.

But he aggravated his sentence by refusing to acknowledge his guilt.

He was defrocked according to the 25th Apostolic Canon.

This late and debated juridical code imposes deposition "if a bishop, presbyter, or deacon be found guilty of fornication, perjury or theft".

Profession, not God, but Putin

Perjury?

According to the docile Archpriest Vladislav Tsypine, vice-president of the court, the recidivist offender "violated his oath of unconditional obedience to the Church hierarchy by expressing a political opinion incompatible with the priesthood".

Vakhtang Kipshidze, the cynical spokesperson for the Patriarchate, added: "If a priest changes the words of the prayers according to his political preferences, the very unity of the Church is undermined."

Is peace a subjective option for those who celebrate the Eucharist?

As the theologian Sergei Shapnin rightly notes: "In the Russian Orthodox Church, there may be but one 'political preference': that of Patriarch Kirill… which means all the clergy (to say the least) are bound to adhere to a single pro-Kremlin ideology."

And this is to ensure that believers serve not God but Putin.

After so many other priests were unjustly dismissed in former Soviet or satellite countries, Ioann Koval can hope, if he manages to go into exile, to see his priesthood restored by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

In the meantime, Russia is gradually being drained of the spiritual resources that would allow it to resist today and to regenerate itself tomorrow.

This is the other side of the evil that we cannot underestimate.

• Jean-François Colosimo is a French theologian and historian specialising in Russia and the Eastern Orthodox faith in which he was raised.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

In addition to a public conversation, Patriarch Kirill and Dr Sauca had their own private audience to discuss Orthodox matters.

Patriarch Kirill welcomed the guests, saying: "I appreciate that you have come to Russia in these hard times to meet with me and my people and talk about the difficult international relations we live in and are confronted with today which naturally affects our inter-church relations, as well."

Dr Sauca thanked Patriarch Kirill for the meeting and said: "The members of our fellowship are looking with great interest and hope to this visit," explaining that the WCC delegation came to Moscow because of a mandate from the WCC central committee to visit WCC member churches with "bleeding wounds." Those visits have included the Middle East - Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine - and then Ukraine, and now Russia.

Read More

An implicit criticism of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who backs the invasion of Ukraine and has boycotted a conference of faith leaders, the Pope made his views plain in Kazakhstan, at the opening of the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

He challenged delegations to unite in condemning war.

"God does not guide religions towards war," he told Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and leaders of other faiths.

"God is peace. He guides us always in the way of peace, never that of war."

"Let us commit ourselves, then, even more to insisting on the need for resolving conflicts not by the inconclusive means of power, with arms and threats, but by the only means blessed by heaven and worthy of man: encounter, dialogue and patient negotiations."

The "viruses" of hate and terrorism would not be eradicated without first wiping out injustice and poverty, he pointed out.

Furthermore, religious freedom is essential for peaceful coexistence in any society. No creed has a right to coerce others to convert, he said.

Among those at the conference was Metropolitan Anthony (pictured). He attended on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill. The Russian Orthodox Church firmly backs Russia's invasion.

Reading a prepared speech from Kirill, Anthony acknowledged the world's major concerns.

Besides the pandemic, there are food, economic and energy concerns, he read on Kirill's behalf.

These are all problems "caused by attempts to build a world without moral values," Anthony relayed.

"The possibility of dialogue in the current difficult circumstances is a very precious resource, an important step toward the solution of existing problems."

Kirill is confident "the peaceful dialogue of religious leaders, coupled with their influence on people's minds and hearts, can and must contribute to overcoming the challenges of our time, harmonising international relations and establishing a just world order."

However, he justifies Russia's invasion on spiritual and ideological grounds. It's a "metaphysical" battle with the West, Anthony explained.

Kirill therefore defends it on religious grounds as an opposition to western secularism.

Francis sees this stance as indefensible. Faith cannot justify the evil of war, he stressed.

"May we never justify violence. May we never allow the sacred to be exploited by the profane," he told the conference.

"The sacred must never be a prop for power, nor power a prop for the sacred!"

Later, he had a private talk with Metropolitan Anthony.

Francis's remark earlier this year that Kirill shouldn't be Putin's "altar boy" hasn't helped, Anthony said after their talk. It hurt efforts toward building Christian unity.

His meeting with Francis was "very cordial" though, Anthony says.

Besides discussing the Russian Orthodox community in Kazakhstan, they discussed arranging a meeting between Francis and Kirill.

They were scheduled to meet in Jerusalem in June. The Vatican cancelled the meeting, however. It was concerned about possible diplomatic fallout given Kirill's support of the war.

Sources

• AP News
• Reuters
• Crux Now

No doubt, they are even more irritated that their continuous offers to mediate or facilitate discussions between the two countries, which the Cardinal Secretary of State repeats nearly every day, have been rejected by the Kremlin with a resounding nyet!

The 85-year-old pope is world-famous as a man of peace and dialogue. During his nine years in office he has emerged as one of the globe's most persistent advocates for fraternal and harmonious relations between all peoples and nations.

And using the moral bully pulpit that is unique to the Roman papacy, he has overtaken the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (often called the "Green Patriarch") as the planet's leading religious leader on ecological, environmental and human life issues.

But it seems there is nothing the pope can do right now regarding the abominable situation in Ukraine, except promote humanitarian efforts by donating money and Church personnel. And, obviously, he can pray and urge others to pray for peace.

Francis is the master of symbolic gestures. And one of the earliest ones he performed after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 was to personally go to the Russian Embassy in the Holy See.

Many hailed this as breaking with protocol (something the Jesuit pope clearly relishes) and a way to emphasise his displeasure with Moscow for the attack.

But another version of what happened claims he first tried to telephone Putin and then the ambassador. When they refused to take his call, he went and knocked on the envoy's door, which is located in a Vatican-owned building a few blocks from St. Peter's Square.

Francis, though rebuffed, did not give up. He continued to appeal for peace, careful not to call out Russia in order to "keep open a door" for negotiations, presumably involving the Vatican in some capacity.

Still nothing, despite his carefully worded remarks aimed at not offending the Russians. Employing linguistic acrobatics, the pope has been increasingly critical and pointed in his appeals, leaving no doubt that he is angered and anguished by Putin's relentless onslaught.

Getting nowhere with Putin or the Moscow Patriarch

A full three weeks after the invasion, Francis finally turned to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. Or did Kirill turn to him?

It is not clear who initiated the video conversation the two Christian leaders had this past Wednesday.

The patriarch also had a similar tete-a-tete the same day with the Archbishop of Canterbury, either before or after his online encounter with the pope.

The Moscow Patriarchate and the Vatican issued separated communiques with general information about the conversation Kirill and Francis had. The fact that they did not issue a single, joint statement — whether because they failed or did not even try — is not a promising sign.

The Russian government and the Russian Orthodox Church have long mistrusted the Vatican and the Roman Church. The meeting the pope and the patriarch had in 2016 in Cuba was indeed an extraordinary and historic moment. But it was only that — a moment.

Kirill is evidently more interested in promoting Russian imperialism rather than Christian unity.

No one should expect him to do anything to even suggest to Putin that Francis and his Vatican aides can help bring to end what is happening in Ukraine in way that is satisfactory to the Kremlin or the Moscow Patriarchate.

The pope's "last ditch effort"

That leaves a pope eager to help on behalf of all humanity with few options except to keep hanging around in front of Russia's door and to continue making symbolic gestures.

Francis has decided it's time to make a "Hail Mary" pass, a football phrase coined in 1975 that means "a last-ditch effort".

He's announced that he intends to consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during a March 25 liturgy in St Peter's Basilica. And he wants all the bishops in the world to also perform this same pious act simultaneously with him.

According to child visionaries of the Marian apparitions that allegedly took place in 1917 in Fatima (Portugal), the Blessed Virgin Mary is said to have called on the pope and all the world's bishops to consecrate Russia to her "immaculate heart" as a condition for world peace.

Make of this what you will. As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger pointed out in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's "theological commentary", the alleged apparitions and message of Fatima are considered a "private revelation".

"Such a message can be a genuine help in understanding the Gospel and living it better at a particular moment in time; therefore it should not be disregarded," he said.

But then he added: "It is a help which is offered, but which one is not obliged to use."

The Fatima fanatics

However, those who do use this message — and, different from Ratzinger, believe all Catholics are obliged to follow it — believe Russia's consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is essential for world peace and the preservation of the Catholic faith.

Even though the consecration has already been performed numerous times by numerous popes (Pius XII, Paul VI and John Paul II), Fatima fanatics have always claimed that those were not valid.

They even refused to believe the words of the last surviving visionary — Sister Lucia — who said the consecration John Paul carried out on March 25, 1984 "has been done just as Our Lady asked".

None of the popes specifically named Russia for political (and ecumenical) reasons, given the geopolitical situation of the post-World War II and Cold War era in which they were living.

But John Paul made it clear in 1984 that Russia was indeed being consecrated. And he insisted that it was done so for once and for all.
Russia is part of "all nations".

"The power of this consecration lasts for all time and embraces all individuals, peoples and nations. It overcomes every evil that the spirit of darkness is able to awaken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in the heart of man and in his history," the Polish pope said in the prayer.

The "act of entrustment" and consecration took place during the Holy Year of Redemption, which marked the 1950th anniversary of Christ's death and resurrection. The Jubilee began on the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25) 1983 and was concluded on Easter Sunday (April 22) 1984.

"In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and nations which particularly need to be thus entrusted and consecrated," John Paul — and all the world's bishops — said on March 25, 1984.

"From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us," said one segment of the prayer.

But the Fatima fanatics — and that is what they are — have not accepted this. They see the alleged apparitions and their message as a magical prophecy of what will happen if certain things — liked consecrating Russia — are not meticulously carried out.

Faith and reason

But Ratzinger rejected this sort of nonsense.

"It should be kept in mind that prophecy in the biblical sense does not mean to predict the future but to explain the will of God for the present, and therefore show the right path to take for the future," he said.

"A person who foretells what is going to happen responds to the curiosity of the mind which wants to draw back the veil on the future," he added.

And when the Vatican finally revealed the so-called "third secret" of Fatima, the former CDF prefect and future pope said this:

Insofar as individual events are described, they belong to the past. Those who expected exciting apocalyptic revelations about the end of the world or the future course of history are bound to be disappointed.

Fatima does not satisfy our curiosity in this way, just as Christian faith in general cannot be reduced to an object of mere curiosity.

What remains was already evident when we began our reflections on the text of the "secret": the exhortation to prayer as the path of "salvation for souls" and, likewise, the summons to penance and conversion.

"Allow me to add here a personal recollection," Ratzinger said at one point in the theological explanation.

"In a conversation with me, Sister Lucia said that it appeared ever more clearly to her that the purpose of all the apparitions was to help people to grow more and more in faith, hope and love — everything else was intended to lead to this," he said.

Pope Francis will likely reiterate this next week when he consecrates Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, hopefully, he will insist that this act is symbolic, as were the words and images the child-visionaries at Fatima allegedly heard and saw.

This is not some magic trick or commercial exchange — a consecration in exchange for peace.

The high priests of our time, including the Bishop of Rome, must focus principally on leading the Christian people in prayer and help them grow more firmly in faith, hope and love.

Everything else is in the hands of God. Read more

Source

• La Croix
• Image: Vatican News

In recent weeks, the Russia's Patriarch Kirill has used religious language to justify his support for Russia's military aggression.

Even Kirill's own supporters are looking elsewhere, says Dew.

"The invasion has created new ecumenical tensions. As many as 160 Russian Orthodox parishes around the world have sought to join other communions as a result."

Dew says New Zealand Church leaders, together with many others around the world, have written to Kirill expressing their "great concern about his religious justification for the war and asking him to use his influence in Moscow to bring it to an end".

Kirill's use of religious language to justify his support for Russia's military aggression is failing to impress Pope Francis who recently rejected the idea put by the Patriarch Kirill that Russia's Ukraine invasion is a "holy war".

During his Sunday address and blessing, Francis continued his implicit criticism of Russia, calling the conflict in Ukraine an unjustified "senseless massacre".

"The violent aggression against Ukraine is unfortunately not slowing down," he told about 30,000 people in St Peter's Square.

"It is a senseless massacre where every day slaughters and atrocities are being repeated," Francis said in his latest strong condemnation of the war, which has so far avoided mentioning Russia by name.

"There is no justification for this," he added.

Moscow says the action it launched on February 24 is a "special military operation" designed not to occupy territory but to demilitarise its neighbour and purge it what it sees as dangerous nationalists. Francis has already rejected that terminology.

"I beg all the players in the international community to truly commit themselves to stopping this repugnant war," the pope said, drawing loud cheers and applause from the crowd.

"Even this week missiles and bombs hit civilians, the elderly, children and pregnant mothers," he said.

Source

• Supplied
• Reuters

A Sunday sermon with very political overtones. It was delivered on February 27 at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow by Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The 75-year-old patriarch castigated those who fight against the historical unity of Russia and Ukraine, calling them "evil forces."

"Protect our common historical homeland"

"God forbid that the present political situation in fraternal Ukraine so close to us should be aimed at making the evil forces that have always strived against the unity of Rus' and the Russian Church, gain the upper hand," he said.

Rus' is a medieval state, considered the ancestor of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Kirill, who was elected patriarch in 2009, has been relatively discreet about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But he clearly supports the vision of the Russian power regarding the unity of the two countries.

"It must not be allowed to give the dark and hostile external forces an occasion to laugh at us; we should do everything to preserve peace between our peoples while protecting our common historical Motherland against every outside action that can destroy this unity," he said on Sunday, while praying for the return of peace.

Restoring the greatness of Russian Orthodoxy

Kirill remained silent during Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. But this time he's displayed more pronounced support.

The context has changed since 2019 when the Patriarchate of Constantinople officially recognised the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's independence from the Moscow Patriarchate. This ended 332 years of Russian religious tutelage over the Ukrainian faithful.

It was a decision the Patriarchate of Moscow saw as an unbearable affront since Ukraine is considered the historical cradle of Russian Orthodoxy.

And it is this Russian Orthodox that Patriarch Kirill wants to return to all its grandeur.

He is one of the most powerful religious dignitaries in the world, heading a Church that has 36,000 parishes and more than 100 million faithful.

Kirill has made it his mission to bring back to the fore a Church that almost disappeared during the Soviet era, in Russia and around the globe.

"Putin remains the master"

On the national scene, the patriarch does not hesitate to lean on the regime of Vladimir Putin — younger than him by six years — with whom he shares an obsession for the greatness of Russia.

Kirill supports the legitimacy of the regime, which in return allows him to extend his influence on society through the defense of traditional values.

President Putin offers the patriarch political and financial support and has said that he sees the Russian Orthodox Church as a "natural partner."

"For Vladimir Putin, religion serves social order and family morality. In exchange, the Church and its patriarch bring religious discourse to the ideology in place," said Jean-François Colosimo, a historian and theologian.

"But it is an unequal exchange, because Putin remains the master. Kirill behaves as a kind of minister of religious affairs and, like any of Putin's ministers, must show submission," he pointed out.

But who really is Patriarch Kirill?

He was born Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev in 1946 in Leningrad and is the heir of a Church that was persecuted for more than 70 years, from the October Revolution to the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

His father and grandfather were both Orthodox priests who died in the Gulag. And in 1960 the young Gundyayev entered the seminary, being ordained nine years later under the name Kirill.

The budding theologian was quickly identified as a future leader for the Russian Church.

His rapid rise to prominence included an appointment in Geneva as the Russian Church's representative to the World Council of Churches (WCC). He then headed the Moscow Patriarchate's office for external religious (i.e. ecumenical) relations for 20 years (1989-2009).

In 2009, he was elected patriarch under the name of Kirill I, succeeding Alexey II.

No warm relationship with Putin

"Since then, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia has been committed to carrying the message of Vladimir Putin's regime, wherever the patriarchate is historically present, in the whole territory of the former USSR," explained Colosimo.

But he stressed that the two men do not have a warm relationship.

Kirill's support of Putin's power is somewhat dictated by challenges inside his Church, especially from a fringe that is more nationalistic, anti-Western and anti-ecumenical than he is.

He thus became the first Patriarch of Moscow to meet a Roman pope when he and Pope Francis met in 2016 in Cuba.

Now, six years later, another meeting is under consideration, even if its preparation has become a lot trickier given the context of the war in Ukraine.

• Arnaud Bevilacqua writes for La Croix from France
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

This is despite ongoing talks since 2013 between Pope Francis and the spiritual head of the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

Although the two church leaders agree on many issues, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk says there are some basic differences.

"Despite the fact that our faith bases are on similar foundations and almost the same Creed, the Catholics have different teaching about the Holy Spirit."

He also says during the past thousand years of separate existence "we have accumulated many contradictions and disagreements."

Mgr Igor Kovalevsky, secretary-general of Russia's Catholic Bishops' Conference, agrees "no real progress" was being made towards solving Catholic Church problems in the country.

"I wouldn't be too optimistic," he says.

"The general situation in Russia isn't easy right now, and the Catholic Church still faces great challenges in merely building bridges.

"Whereas politicians tend to set people apart, the mission of religious leaders is to reconcile them.

"Since our own church is small and weak by itself, we should be pleased if these contacts with the Holy See have helped achieve a few small steps, if nothing more.

"But they all seem to be happening over our heads without much reference to local conditions."

Although the churches themselves may not unite, Pope Francis and Russia's Patriarch Kirill agree on some issues.

These include the need to protect endangered Christians in the Middle East.

They have also pledged to continue working for world peace.

Source

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Catholic World Report

Parolin, who has just returned from a four day trip to Russia, says: "I tried above all to say this, this was the message that I wanted to convey: Russia, for its geographical position, its history, its culture, and its past, present, and future, has an important role to play in the international community and in the world.

"Therefore, it has a particular responsibility regarding peace: both the country and its leaders have a great responsibility to build peace, and they must truly strive to put the higher interests of peace above all other interests," Parolin says.

Besides Putin, Parolin met with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill, and Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who is the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations.

Parolin says Francis was happy to hear about the "positive result" of his visit to Russia.

Francis "is very, very attentive to all opportunities for dialogue that there can be, he is very attentive to value all the dialogues we have and he is very happy when making steps in this direction," Parolin says.

Source

• CNA
• Sputnik International
• Image: CNA

Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill are meeting in Switzerland to resume discussions they began last year in Havana.

At last year's meeting, the Catholic and Orthodox leaders discussed Christian brotherhood and unity.

This year they will talk about progress and rapprochement between the two Churches.

"We spoke as brothers," Pope Francis said of the meeting last year. "We have the same baptism. We are bishops. We spoke of our Churches."

Patriarch Kirill said their private discussion was conducted "with full awareness of the responsibility of our Churches, for the future of Christianity, and for the future of human civilization" and provided a chance to understand each other.

He said the two Churches will work against war.

Other topics of the discussion between the Pope and the Patriarch included poverty, the crisis in the family, abortion and euthanasia.

The Pope and the Patriarch pleaded for young Christians to live their faith in the world.

Both last year and this year's conferences were arranged by Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, and Metropolitan Hilarion, president of the department of the external ecclesiastical relations of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate.

Source

• The Catholic World Report
• Angelus
• Image: Vatican Radio

The two leaders met for 135 minutes in Cuba on February 12.

It was the first meeting of this kind for nearly 1000 years.

A joint statement was issued, in which Francis and Kirill declared: "We are not competitors but brothers, and this concept must guide all our mutual actions as well as those directed to the outside world."

"We urge Catholics and Orthodox in all countries to learn to live together in peace and love, and to be 'in harmony with one another'," they stated.

Pope Francis said he and Kirill spoke freely at the meeting.

The Pontiff said the discussions were tantamount to "a conversation of brothers", where each "spoke with frankness" about their worries and concerns.

Later, Francis also appeared to downplay some of the more strongly worded sections of the joint statement, saying: "It is not a political declaration . . . it is a pastoral declaration."

The 30-paragraph statement dealt with several controversial political issues, including: the continuing violence in Ukraine; persecution of Christians in the Middle East; issues of marriage and family life; and the practices of abortion and euthanasia.

At the beginning of their declaration, the Christian leaders wrote that they hope their meeting may be an example to the world.

Speaking of the changes facing humanity, Francis and Kirill wrote: "Human civilisation has entered into a period of epochal change."

"Our Christian conscience and our pastoral responsibility compel us not to remain passive in the face of challenges requiring a shared response," they stated.

The statement devoted six paragraphs to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, calling on the international community "to act urgently" to prevent even more Christians from fleeing the region.

It also mentioned the violence in Iraq and Syria, and strongly denounced terrorism and the use of religion to justify violence.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Full text: Statement by Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill
• The Guardian
• Image: Reuters

The meeting, which is expected to take two hours, will take place when the Pope is en route to Mexico, the Vatican announced.

A statement from the Vatican and the Moscow patriarchate noted that the meeting will mark an important stage in relations between the two churches.

According to a Reuters report, Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church said the meeting is taking place because of the need for a joint response to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

Metropolitan Hilarion said that long-standing differences between the two churches remain, most notably a row over the status of the Uniate Church, in Ukraine.

But he said these differences were being put aside so that Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis could come together on the issue of persecution of Christians.

"The situation shaping up today in the Middle East, in North and Central Africa, and in some other regions where extremists are carrying out a genuine genocide of the Christian population, demands urgent measures and an even closer cooperation between the Christian churches," Hilarion said.

"We need to put aside internal disagreements at this tragic time and join efforts to save Christians in the regions where they are subject to the most atrocious persecution."

Hilarion said the first-ever meeting between the heads of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches would not take place in Europe because Patriarch Kirill had objected to such a venue from the very beginning.

"Because it is namely Europe with which this tragic history of divisions and conflicts among Christians is linked," Hilarion said.

The meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Kirill will come only months before the expected opening in June of the first synod meeting of the various Orthodox churches in more than a thousand years.

This synod will be in Crete.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Reuters
• Image: Asia News

The pope's position was announced in comments posted on the website of Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, following a meeting at the Vatican on Tuesday between the pople and Kirill's external affairs representative.

The Turkish Weekly quoted the Russian Church: "Pope Benedict XVI has expressed solidarity with the Russian Orthodox Church's position on the issue and perplexity over the reaction of a number of media to these events."

The post on the site said the pope also expressed his "words of support to the Russian Church in connection with the blasphemous act in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in February."

The report said that in September, a man poured ink on an icon in the central Moscow cathedral. Earlier, vandals sawed down crosses in three Russian regions. In March a man chopped 38 icons in the Vologda Region with an ax. The events followed February's "punk prayer" by the Pussy Riot punk band in the Christ the Savior Cathedral.

An edited clip of Pussy Riot's protest in late February posted online showed the group alternately high-kicking near the entrance to the altar of the Christ the Savior Cathedral, accompanying the "Holy S**t" song urging the Virgin Mary to "drive [Vladimir] Putin out."

The song contained words insulting to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and to believers, the report added.

Three band members were found guilty of hooliganism aimed at inciting religious hatred and jailed for two years each on August 17. The prison term for one of them was later replaced with a suspended sentence.

The trial and sentences attracted unprecedented media attention and international criticism, which Moscow dismissed as "groundless" saying the band's act was not an issue of artistic performance but was "insulting to millions of Orthodox [Christian] believers."

The band said their performance was not aimed at insulting believers' feelings.

The Independent newspaper said the pope's spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi, would not confirm the comments, saying "I have nothing to say. This was reported on the site of the Russian Patriarch and it was about a meeting I was not privy to. I have no intention of disturbing the pope to ask him about it."

Sources

• Turkish Weekly
• The Independent
• ABC News
• Image: AP/AFP/ABC News