Plans for a meeting were postponed Pope Francis with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Cyril, in Jerusalem in June. Patriarch Cyril has backed Russia’s war in Ukraine, the pope himself told an Argentine newspaper.
Reuters reported on April 11 that the Vatican was considering extending the pope’s trip to Lebanon from June 12-13 by one day so that he could meet with Cyril on June 14 in Jerusalem.
In an interview with La Nacion, Francis lamented that the plan should be “postponed” because Vatican diplomats said such a meeting “could be very confusing at this stage”.
This would be just the second meeting between the two men. The first, in Cuba in 2016, was at the same time the first between a pope and a leader of the Russian Orthodox Church after the Great Schism, in 1054, the split of the Christian Church, which was indivisible during the first millennium.
The 75-year-old Cyril has offered his full support to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and this position has divided the world Orthodox Church and caused a “revolt” within it, which according to academics and theologians is unprecedented.
The 85-year-old Francis has often indirectly criticized Russia and President Vladimir Putin for the war, using words and phrases such as “unwarranted aggression” and “invasion” and expressing his sorrow over the atrocities against civilians.
Putin, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, described Moscow’s actions in Ukraine as a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarizing and “de-Naziizing” the country.
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