The Vatican canceled the meeting of the Pope with the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill
The Vatican has canceled the meeting of Pope Francis with Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In an interview with Argentina’s La Nacion, Pope Francis said the plan for the meeting had been “stopped”. The pontiff noted that, according to Vatican diplomats, such a meeting “could cause great confusion at the moment“.
At the same time, he said he “regrets” that the meeting had to be rescheduled.
— I have always promoted interreligious dialogue. When I was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, I brought Christians, Jews and Muslims together in a fruitful dialogue. It was one of the initiatives that I am most proud of. This is the same policy that I promote in the Vatican, – he said.
Pope Francis’s meeting with Kirill was due to take place in June, and was to be the second since 2016, after church representatives met in Havana, Cuba.
The Vatican was considering extending the Pope’s June 12-13 trip to Lebanon by a day so that he could meet with Kirill on June 14 in Jerusalem.
It is worth noting that Patriarch Kirill, also known as Vladimir Gundyaev, supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine and even blessed the Russian military for this war.
During an Easter Mass at the Vatican, Pope Francis denounced the brutality of Russia’s war against Ukraine. At the end of the sermon he said: “Christ is risen!” in Ukrainian.
Source: La Nacion
