PATRIARCH KIRILL THANKS VATICAN FOR BALANCED POSITION REGARDING UKRAINE
Interfax-Religiia, 3 February 2015
Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill criticized actions of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGKTs) and thanked the Vatican for its balanced position regarding Ukraine.
"Nowadays concern in the area of mutual relations with the Roman Catholic Church is evoked by the new aggravation of the problem of the Unia in Ukraine caused by the latest political events in the country," the patriarch said at the Bishops' Conference in Moscow.
He said that beginning with the very first protests in Kiev late in 2013 the UGKTs supported one side in the conflict, "which using nationalist and often russophobic slogans sought the overthrow of the government." The patriarch noted that the leadership and many representatives of UGKTs "made extremely politicized statements that did not facilitate the overcoming of the civil conflict."
"However I would like to note with pleasure that the Holy See itself has always maintained a balanced position regarding the situation in Ukraine and has avoided a one-sided assessment, calling for peaceful negotiations and an end to the armed conflicts," the primate declared.
He pointed out that on the whole, relations of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches "have a positive dynamic of development primarily due to a clear awareness of the necessity of Orthodox believers and Catholics joining forces for the defense of traditional Christian values and combating such challenges of modernity as secularization, discrimination against Christians, the crisis of the family, and the erosion of moral principles in personal and public life." (tr. by PDS, posted 4 February 2015)
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