Pope Francis said on Wednesday that God does not lead religions to war, a veiled critique of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who supported the invasion of Ukraine and boycotted the religious leaders’ conference.
On his second day in Kazakhstan, Francis addressed the Seventh Congress of World Leaders and Traditional Religions, a meeting that brings together Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and other religions.
Kirill was going to join, but withdrew.
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) sent a delegation headed by Metropolitan Anthony number two, who would later meet briefly with the pope.
“God is peace. He always guides us on the path of peace, never on the path of war,” said Francis, speaking at the huge round table at the Independence Palace, a massive, modern structure that used to be made of steel and glass. capital of the republic soviet
“So let us be more committed to insisting on the need to resolve conflicts not with fruitless means of power, weapons and threats, but with the only means sanctified by heaven and decent human beings: meeting, dialogue and patient negotiations,” he said.
Saying that Kirill cannot be the altar child of Russian President Vladimir Putin this year, the Pope said at the conference: “The holy should never support the power, and the power should not support the holy!”
Kirill supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which the patriarch saw as a bulwark against the collapsing West.
Francis then spoke of Ukraine at the end of a mass for some 6,000 members of Kazakhstan’s small Catholic community, asking “how many more deaths will be needed” before the conflict gave way to dialogue.
source: Noticias
