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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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“Such statements do not contribute to the much-needed dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/a><\/p>\n The Russian Orthodox Church was separated from Western Christianity in 1054, and there are about 100 million believers in Russia alone.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Ukraine denies such persecution.<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n \n<\/p>\n top channel
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