Pope Francis meets with the “chancellor” of the Russian ChurchMetropolitan Antonio, to encourage dialogue and seek an end to the conflict with Ukraine. The meeting between the Argentine and the Russian was held in the Vatican in a “reserved” manner.
Prior to this meeting, in which “various topics” were discussedAccording to Antonio, the pontiff had met in Budapest with the predecessor of the metropolitan, Hilarion, removed from office last year due to his disagreements with the war in Ukraine.
“I am ready, I’m willing to do whatever needs to be done. Also now a mission is being carried out, but it is reserved, we will see. When it’s public I’ll talk about itsaid the Pope.
The Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin confirmed that “the Pope has said that there will be a mission that will be announced when it is public“He told the press on Wednesday.
“I will not go into details. The Pope spoke in these terms, we let him give any other information“, Parolin added when confirming the management started.
On the other hand, the Pope also referred to the suspended meeting with Kirill, head of the Orthodox Church, since he had expressed his position in favor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: “With Patriarch Kirill I have spoken only once from the moment the war started, 40 minutes via Zoomlater through Antonio, who occupies the position of Hilarion, now, and who comes to see me,” the Pope said on Sunday about his last links with Moscow.
According to the Pope, “the meeting we were supposed to have in Jerusalem in July or June of last year is on holdbut due to the war it was suspended. This must be done“He was confident anyway.
Kiril, in charge of a Church with 200 million faithful, was shown from the beginning of the Russian invasion with defense positions of the warwhich led to the Pope asking him to do not become an “altar boy for Putin” during a conversation through the Zoom application that they had in March, as the pontiff later raised.
In February 2016, the Pope and Kiril met in Havana, Cuba, in what It was the first rapprochement in almost 1,000 years between the highest Christian and Catholic authorities since the schism of 1054.
Source: Ambito
