Pope Francis has expressed his support for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) following Ukraine’s ban on its activity in Ukraine.
"I continue to follow with sorrow the fighting in Ukraine and the Russian Federation. And in thinking about the laws recently adopted in Ukraine, I fear for the freedom of those who pray, because those who truly pray always pray for all. A person does not commit evil because of praying. If someone commits evil against his people, he will be guilty for it, but he cannot have committed evil because he prayed," he said after the traditional Sunday’s Angelus prayer.
"So let those who want to pray be allowed to pray in what they consider their Church. Please, let no Christian Church be abolished directly or indirectly. Churches are not to be touched!" the pontiff stressed.
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill on Saturday called on the heads of Orthodox and other Christian Churches and international and religious organizations to defend the Ukrainian Orthodox Church following its ban.
On August 20, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) adopted in the second reading the bill "On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activity of Religious Organizations," which allows to ban the activity of any religious communities in Ukraine if they are "affiliated" with any religious organizations in Russia. The bill was signed into a law by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on August 24. It will come into force 30 days after its publication.
The bill banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was drafted at Zelesky’s request and passed by the Verkhovna Rada in the first reading in October 2023. It has not been put for the third reading for nearly a year out of fears that it would fail to score enough votes in parliament and would cause the West’s disapproval. However, on August 16, after the bill was amended and renamed, the Rada humanitarian and information policy recommended it be passed in the second reading.
Hundreds of Ukrainian Orthodox pilgrims defy Kiev’s ban on procession
Hundreds of Ukrainian Orthodox faithful have arrived at a major monastery in the west of the country, after setting out on a ‘procession of the cross’ march for hundreds of kilometers. The long march went ahead despite a ban on the event by authorities, as Kiev continues to crack down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which it accuses of having ties to Russia.
According to Ukrainian media and to footage from the scene on Sunday, a large crowd gathered near the Pochaevskaya Lavra in the town of the same name in Ternopol Region. Clips and photos shared by the UOC on Facebook showed a relatively wide street in front of the church packed with Orthodox faithful as far as the eye could see, many carrying life-size crosses and icons.
The procession had set out on Monday from the town of Kamenets-Podolsky, about 125 miles (200 km) to the south. Local media, citing churchgoers, reported that some parishioners were making their way to the Lavra to pray for peace in Ukraine to the Pochaev icon of the Mother of God, one of the most revered in Orthodoxy.
However, Ukrainian officials attempted to derail the procession, with the Khmelnitsky regional military administration banning any mass religious events from August 16 to 25. Media reports suggested that, on Tuesday, the pilgrims’ route was blocked in the village of Chemerovtsy, some 30 miles (50 km) north of Kamenets-Podolsky.
Alexandr Soban, the head of local community, said that the procession was not allowed to pass through the settlement and so it was forced to go around it. “I have nothing against God, but I am against the Russian Church,” he said, referring to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Ukrainian authorities have for months waged a crusade against the UOC, making arrests, closing churches and trying to force clergy and parishes to come under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which has the backing of Kiev. The OCU is considered by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to be schismatic.
Kiev has repeatedly accused the UOC of having ties with Russia, even though it severed all ties with the Moscow Patriarchate several weeks after the Ukraine conflict began.
The crusade across Ukraine against the UOC, the country’s largest religious organization, came to a head on Saturday, when Vladimir Zelensky signed a law allowing the banning of any religious group suspected of having ties to Russia. The measure is widely seen as a direct attack on the UOC, and gives it nine months to sever all ties with the ROC before the official ban comes into force.
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