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The Russian Orthodox Church today criticized Pope Francis for ‘wrong tones’ after a day earlier urging Patriarch Kirill not to become a “Kremlin altar aide”, warning the Vatican that such comments undermine inter-church dialogue.
Francesco told the Italian daily ‘Corriere della Sera’ yesterday that Cyril, who has given his support to the attack in Ukraine, “can not become the helper of the altar of [Presidentit Vladimir] Putin “, referring ironically to the young boys who help the priests during the masses at the altar.
The Russian Church said it was unfortunate that a month and a half after Francis and Patriarch Kirill had met in Moscow, the first to speak in such tones.
“Pope Francis has chosen the wrong tone to convey the content of this conversation,” the patriarch said in a comment, without specifically mentioning the “altar boy” comment.
“Such statements do not contribute to the much-needed dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.”
75-year-old Kirill, a close ally of Putin, considers the war as a resistance to the “decadent West” mainly from the acceptance and praise of homosexuality, writes Reuters agency.
The Russian Orthodox Church was separated from Western Christianity in 1054, and there are about 100 million believers in Russia alone.
Ukraine has about 30 million Orthodox divided between the Ukrainian Patriarchate of Moscow and other Orthodox Churches, one of which is the self-governing body of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Kirill also said that the conflict in Ukraine started in 2014 when the pilot protests overthrew the pro-Russian president, and when the persecution of Russian-speakers in the south and east of Ukraine began.
Ukraine denies such persecution.
Kirill has expressed pain for the conflict, saying: “This situation is a great pain for me, because my believers are on both sides of the confrontation, they are Orthodox believers.”
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