Pope Francis may meet with Cyril, the archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, during his visit to Kazakhstan on September 13-15.
The two leaders will attend an interfaith congress sponsored by the Kazakh government and will have the opportunity to hold a meeting that was scheduled for last June but was canceled in April.
On this occasion, the Pope justified that a meeting at the time “could cause a lot of confusion”, as Cyril was an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and advocated an invasion of Ukraine.
The official schedule of Francis’ trip to Kazakhstan, aired on Tuesday 2nd, does not mention the Moscow patriarch, but provides “private meetings with some religious leaders” on September 14.
Jorge Bergoglio met with Cirilo in Havana in 2016 in an unprecedented move of rapprochement between Catholics and Orthodox, but the Russian war in Ukraine has exposed the differences between the two.
The pope made dozens of speeches denouncing the conflict and “massacre” of the Ukrainian civilian population, while the pro-regime Moscow patriarch backed the occupation and blamed the war on the West.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in May, Francis went so far as to say that the Orthodox leader “could not be Putin’s altar boy.”
Route – The Pope arrived in Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan, on the afternoon of September 13, and met with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and representatives of civil society and diplomatic unions.
The next day, he attends the opening and plenary session of the 7th Congress of World Leaders and Traditional Religions, an event aimed at promoting interfaith dialogue and preventing people’s faith from being used to justify wars. Francis celebrates a sacrament for faithful Cossacks at night.
On September 15, the Pope repeated the tradition of meeting with local Jesuits and clergy, as well as attending the reading of the conclusions of the interfaith congress. Departure to Rome is scheduled for the afternoon.
source: Noticias
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