The Russian Orthodox Church today criticized him Pope Francis for the wrong style he used in his interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera yesterday, in which told Patriarch Cyril not to become the Kremlin’s “grandson.”. The Moscow Patriarchate has warned the Vatican that such statements could hurt dialogue between the Churches.
Pope Francis said in an interview that Cyril who supported the war in Ukraine “He can not become Putin’s grandson.”
The Russian Orthodox Church has stated that it is sad fact that a month and a half after the direct discussion that Pope Francis had with the Patriarch of All Russia Cyril, the Pope adopted such a style.
“Pope Francis has chosen the wrong style to convey the content of their conversation,” the Moscow Patriarchate said, although it did not elaborate on the statement containing the word “grandfather.”
“Such statements are unlikely to contribute to the establishment of a constructive dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church that is extremely necessary at this time,” the statement said.
The 75-year-old Cyril, a close ally of Putin, sees the war as a bulwark against a West it sees as declining, especially in terms of acceptance of homosexuality.
The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest church in the Eastern Christian community, formed after the Great Schism of 1054, which marked its split with Western Christianity. Today it has in its ranks about 100 million believers inside Russia and more abroad.
Ukraine has about 30 million Orthodox, and is divided into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate and two other Orthodox Churches, one of which is the self-governing Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
THE Pope Francis, 85, had asked to meet with President Putin in Moscow on the issue of Ukraine but the Kremlin announced today that there was no agreement on the issue.
The Moscow Patriarchate said Cyril had told Pope Francis on March 16 that the Western media had failed to cover the situation in Ukraine, a complaint often made by Russians.
Cyril has said that the conflict in Ukraine began in 2014, when protests overthrew the pro-Russian president, speaking of persecution as he had told Russian-speakers in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, something that Ukraine denies.
Cyril also expressed his sorrow over the conflict in Ukraine.
“Of course, this situation causes me great pain. “My flock is on both sides of the controversy, they are mainly Orthodox,” the Patriarchate said in a statement.
“How can we promote the pacification of those who fight with the sole aim of achieving the consolidation of peace and justice?” The Russian Patriarch asks.
Putin has also cited NATO enlargement to Russia’s border as the cause of the conflict in Ukraine, despite assurances he said were given during the collapse of the Soviet Union that the alliance would not extend eastward, an issue raised by Cyril
“Patriarch Cyril also recalled that at the end of the Soviet era, Russia had received assurances that NATO would not move an inch to the east,” “however, this promise was broken,” the Moscow Patriarchate said in a statement.
The United States and NATO deny any such guarantees, but say countries are free to choose to join the alliance, which is purely defensive and does not pose a threat to Russia.
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