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Pope Francis has criticised Ukraine for banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) which has historically been tied to Russia.
“Let those who want to pray be allowed to pray in what they consider their church” Pope Francis said.
None of the warring parties have heeded the Pope’s pleas for the war to cease.
Praying is never evil
“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” the pope said after his Angelus address on Sunday.
Those who truly pray always pray for all, he said, explaining why he was concerned.
“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.
“Please, let no Christian church be abolished directly or indirectly. Churches are not to be touched!” he said.
New law
In April, a Kyiv International Institute of Sociology study found 83 percent thought the Government should intervene in the activities of the UOC.
The study also found 63 percent supported banning the UOC altogether.
On August 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed into law a bill banning the branch of the UOC dependent on the Moscow Patriarchate.
It is the country’s main denomination.
Religious groups with ties to Russia have been given nine months to sever their relationship with Moscow or leave the country.
Persecution alleged
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is not pleased with the new law.
He says Kyiv is “persecuting” followers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church dependent on the Moscow Patriarchate.
The split has deepened the Russia-Ukraine conflict’s religious dimension, giving Kirill cause to defend Russia’s invasion.
It is a holy war, he says.
However, that branch of the Orthodox Church has been losing influence since a new independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church was founded in 2018.
Nonetheless, it still has thousands of Ukrainian parishes.
Conflicted interests alleged
Even though UOC cut ties with Moscow in 2022 after the conflict in Ukraine began, Ukrainian authorities consider it to be under Russian influence.
The authorities have increasingly launched legal actions, searches and seizures against it.
The Ukraine security service has accused the UOC of acting as a platform to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Its churches are havens for spies, the security service alleges. It has launched criminal proceedings against at least 100 UOC clergy members. So far, 26 clergy have been sentenced.
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