Will the Pope meet the Patriarch in Kazakhstan?

Cardinal: Pope meeting Patriarch only makes sense under certain conditions

Vatican "ecumenical minister" Koch in Kathpress interview: A meeting of of the Pope and Moscow Patriarch "would make sense if it could come to a joint clear statement that this senseless and cruel war would finally end"

The Vatican "ecumenical minister", Cardinal Kurt Koch considers a possible meeting between Pope Francis and the Russian Orthodox Moscow Patriarch Kirill I to be meaningful only under certain conditions. "I think it would make sense if there could be a joint clear statement that this senseless and cruel war would finally be ended," Koch said in an interview with the Kathpress news agency (Thursday), referring to the fighting in Ukraine. Both Francis and Kirill want to attend a religious meeting in Kazakhstan in mid-September. There is lively speculation about a meeting of the two there.

Koch said he did not know whether there would be a meeting of Pope and Patriarch in Kazakhstan. A major challenge in this context is "that it would be perceived as very difficult in Ukraine if the Pope first met the Russian Orthodox Patriarch before visiting Ukraine", said the head of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

The Papal Envoy for Foreign Affairs, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, had recently not ruled out the possibility of Francis travelling to Ukraine before attending the inter-religious congress planned for 14 and 15 September in the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan. Francis himself has already expressed the wish to visit Kyiv on several occasions. Last weekend, Kyiv's ambassador to the Holy See also announced after a meeting with the Pope that Francis wanted to visit Ukraine before his trip to Kazakhstan.

Major differences with Moscow

Overall, the bilateral relationship with the Moscow Patriarchate is "clouded" by Kirill's position on the Ukraine war, Cardinal Koch said in the Kathpress interview. "The positions are very different, because for our Catholic Church it is absolutely clear that war is never a solution". War only creates greater problems, "especially with this high number of victims, the many refugees, the consequences for the further pollution of creation and hunger in the world". The Holy See's position is clear: "War is a wrong way."

Patriarch Kirill, on the other hand, was convinced that this path had to be followed, Koch said. There, he said, the differences are simply very great. "But if we want to seek ways to further understanding, then we must remain in dialogue," the Curial Cardinal stressed.

Koch also referred to the same position of the World Council of Churches (WCC). There, in the run-up to the next Assembly, which will meet in Karlsruhe from 31 August, there was a discussion on whether the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate should be disinvited. "But the World Council of Churches has decided that this is not a solution. The dialogues, talks and relations must be maintained, otherwise nothing can be achieved," said the Vatican ecumenical representative.

Source