Vakhtang Kipshidze, deputy head of the synodal department of the Moscow Patriarchate for relations between church, society and the media, said that Pope Francis should make an official appeal to the Ukrainian leadership to resolve the situation with the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. He announced this on the broadcast of the Soloviev Live TV channel, reports TASS.
According to Kipshidze, at the weekend Patriarch Kirill made a formal appeal to the Pope demanding attention to what is happening in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
However, according to the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church, “this kind of reaction is clearly not enough,” he said.
Kipshidze added that if Francis had formally applied to the Ukrainian authorities, he would have shown that he “really cares about the violation of the rights of believers, that he cares about the fate of the priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”
On March 15, the Pope of Rome during a regular meeting declarationConcerned about the plight of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and calling for respect for religious places of worship.