Patriarch Kirill loath to meet with Pope over situation in Western Ukraine

January08201017:28

The situation in Western Ukraine, where 500 parishes had been taken away from the Orthodox church and returned to the Greek Catholic church is a main obstacle for Kirill to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, head of Moscow patriarchate foreign relations department Archbishop Illarion said in an interview with Radio Eho Moskvy.

“In general, the relations are good and have significantly improved after Pope Benedict’s accession to the throne. However, there are some problems related to the situation in Western Ukraine,” Illarion said.

“Unfortunately, nothing is being done to resolve the issue,” he added.

“I believe the meeting with Pope Benedict will happen sooner or later. We are not prepared to discuss the time or venue for the meeting. For us it is important that the situation improve. To improve it, the Greek Catholic church should take concrete steps to resolve the issue,” he said.

Comments

04:4928.01.10 Wasyl
- Free all Ukrainian Orthodox churches from the grip of the Russian Orthodox Church (Collaborators with Stalin and the murder of millions of Ukrainians)
03:2917.01.10 Nikos Gavrilos
- The Papacy has always had one thing in mind: all roads MUST lead to Rome. What happened to the Greek Cathollic Church Uniate Church was wrong and unfortunate, but one has to look at the implications of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in which hundreds of thousands of Orthodox believers were betrayed by some of their bishops who went over to Rome alegedly for protection from the Ottomans but really were promised financial and temporal rewards if they accepted the Papacy. The Papacy has too much power: it is a secular power...little to do with the Kingdom of Christ. Why should the Vatican have a seat in the U.N for example? The Vatican has always been fanatically anti-Russian and has always served the interests of the West!
17:0311.01.10 Kiril another KGB stooge!
- I doubt the Pope would meet with the Russian Orthodox oligarch who operates with the blessing of the Putin controlled KGB. Why dirty one's hands with a church and regime that is responsible for the deaths and murders of millions!?
03:2209.01.10 pupa
- Kirill needs to recognize that many Ukrainian Catholic churches were destroyed or taken over by the Moscow Church he leads now. Instead of being upset about the churches they took back to the people they originally belonged to he should make a gesture worthy of a cleric of his stature and turn over more churches in good will to the Ukrainian orthodox and Catholic church.