Pope Francis said on Sunday that it is impossible to “overthrow” any Christian church in Ukraine. During a meeting with believers at the Vatican, he referred to the decision by the authorities in Kiev to ban the activities of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Addressing the faithful gathered for the midday Angelus prayer, the Pope said: – I continue to follow with pain the battles in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation. And thinking about the legal norms recently adopted in Ukraine, I am growing concerned about the freedom of those who pray, because the one who truly prays always prays for everyone.
– One does not commit evil by praying. If someone commits evil against his own nation, he will be guilty, but he could not have committed evil because he prayed – said the Pope.
Then he added: – So let people pray in the Church they consider theirs. Please, do not directly or indirectly overthrow any Christian Church. Do not touch churches.
Francis said these words a day after the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law banning the activities of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church.
On Saturday, the law “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations” came into force. The purpose of this regulation is to prohibit the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church and related religious organizations in Ukraine, as well as the dissemination of the ideology of the so-called “Russian Peace” and – in particular – the use of religious organizations to promote the Kremlin's geopolitical concepts.
Pope on “global health crisis”
Speaking from a window in the Apostolic Palace, the Pope also expressed solidarity with the thousands of people sick with monkeypox, saying the virus is already a “global health crisis.”
“I pray for all those infected, especially for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, already so tried. I express my closeness to the local churches of the countries most affected by this disease and I encourage governments and private industry to share technology and available treatments so that no one lacks adequate medical care,” Francis said.
Main image source: PAP/EPA/ANGELO CARCONI