Pope Francis met deputy leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Antonij, at the Vatican late last week. The meeting was part of ongoing ecumenical contacts between the Papacy and the Patriarchate of Moscow. It followed a video call between Pope Francis and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in March, shortly after the war in Ukraine began.
The recent removal of Hilarion and appointment of Antonij may point to disagreement with the Russian Orthodox Church about the war, disunity the Vatican may be able to capitalise on as outreach continues. After all, the recent meeting came as Pope Francis prepares to travel to Kazakhstan next month for the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
It is likely that he will meet Kirill, an ally of Vladimir Putin, there. The Pope had planned to meet Kirill in Jerusalem this summer but cancelled on the advice of diplomats. The pair last met in 2016. Since the war began, the Pope has praised Ukrainians for fighting for their survival, but added the situation was not black and white, and the war was “perhaps in some way provoked”.
Pope Francis said that months before the war began, he met a head of state who expressed concern that NATO was “barking at the gates of Russia” in a way which could lead to war. The Pope asked rhetorically if his words made him “pro-Putin”, something he refuted. Shortly after the war began, the Pope held a video meeting with Kirill, warning the cleric against hiding behind religion to justify aggression and conquest.
The Pope said: “Once upon a time there was also talk in our Churches of holy war or just war. Today we cannot speak like this.” In April, however, Pope Francis sent a letter of good wishes to Kirill to mark Easter of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The following month, the Pope said he asked for a meeting in Moscow with Putin to try to stop the war, and told Italy’s Corriere Della Sera newspaper that Kirill “cannot become Putin’s altar boy”.
In June, meanwhile, Pope Francis told Reuters there had been contacts between Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about a trip to Moscow. The Pope said: “I would like to go (to Ukraine), and I wanted to go to Moscow first.” The Pope said that following his Canada trip, which has just finished, he may visit Ukraine.
While the trip may afford the Pope the opportunity to conduct a dialogue with Kirill and attempt peace-making, some feel that the Holy Father has been too forgiving of Russia. This sense is perhaps magnified by ongoing criticism of the Vatican’s willingness to persevere with an agreement with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while Catholics remain persecuted in China.
That many Catholic countries in central and eastern Europe have taken such a strong stand on the war – especially Poland – further complicates matters. The meeting last week however seemed like a prelude to a meeting with Kirill. In what may become another piece of legacy-making, Pope Francis is perhaps looking to build bridges beyond the realm of politics.
Whatever bad blood exists politically between Catholic Poland and Orthodox Russia, the Slavic countries do have things in common, ranging from social attitudes to the fact Christianity roared back to life in both countries – as well as others in central and eastern Europe – after the collapse of communism. If any common ground exists between the Catholic world and Russia, it is this.
Without wishing to forgive aggression or appease, the Pope’s best chance for dialogue is emphasising the traditional values and social conservatism of people, not politicians, on both sides. Does Russia really want to be fighting its conservative Slavic brothers? Is this not what the enemies of social conservatism want, after all?
Whatever animosity exists, the people of the Catholic countries of central and eastern Europe share with the Russian people a sense of civilisationism, and concern for the survival of a common people, culture, and place. If so, is an intra-Slavic war not a self-defeating endeavour? If then the Pope wants to win over Kirill, this is perhaps the best position from which to start.
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