The Russian Orthodox Church today criticized Pope Francis for the erroneous tone he used in yesterday’s interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, in which he told Patriarch Kirill not to become the Kremlin’s “altar boy”. The Patriarchate of Moscow drew the attention of the Vatican that such statements could damage the dialogue between the Churches.
In his interview, Pope Francis said that Kirill, who supported the war in Ukraine, “cannot become Putin’s altar boy”.
The Russian Orthodox Church stated that it is regrettable that one and a half months after Pope Francis had a direct discussion with Patriarch Kirill of All Russia, the Pope adopted such a tone.
“Pope Francis chose a wrong tone to convey the content of their conversation,” the Patriarchate of Moscow announced, although it did not mention in detail the statement containing the word “altar boy.”
“Such statements are unlikely to contribute to the establishment of a constructive dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, which is extremely necessary at this time,” the statement reads.
The 75-year-old Kirill, a close ally of Putin, sees war as a stronghold against a West he considers decadent, especially as regards the acceptance of homosexuality.
The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the churches 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 within Russia and more outside.
Ukraine has about 30 million Orthodox Christians, while it is divided into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Patriarchate of Moscow and two other Orthodox Churches, one of which is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which is autocephalous.
The 85-year-old Pope Francis 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 announced that Kirill had told Pope Francis on March 16th that the Western media had failed to present the situation in Ukraine, which is a complaint often voiced by the Russians.
Kirill has said that the conflict in Ukraine began in 2014, when protests overthrew the pro-Russian president, talking about persecution as he had said of the Russian-speaking people in the Ukrainian port city, Odessa, something Ukraine denies.
Kirill also expressed his sorrow for the conflict in Ukraine.
“Of course, this situation causes me great pain. My flock is on both sides of the conflict, they are mainly Orthodox,” the Patriarch said in a statement.
“How can we promote peace for those who are fighting with the sole aim of achieving the consolidation of peace and justice?”, the Russian Patriarch asks.
Putin has also cited the enlargement of NATO to Russia’s borders as the cause of the conflict in Ukraine, despite assurances given during the collapse of the Soviet Union that the alliance would not spread to the east, an issue raised by Kirill.
“Patriarch Kirill also recalled that at the end of the Soviet era, Russia was assured that NATO would not move one inch in the east,” however, “this promise was broken,” the Moscow Patriarchate said in a statement.
The United States and NATO deny such guarantees were given, but say countries are free to choose to join the alliance, which is purely defensive and poses no threat to Russia.
