Pope Francis Condemns Zelensky's Ban On Ukraine's Largest Church
Pope Francis Condemns Zelensky's Ban On Ukraine's Largest Church
His Sunday remarks emphasized "churches are not to be touched."
Note, Zelensky who is Jewish just shut down the largest Christian Church in Ukraine… there is still no news on any Christian leaders shutting down the largest denomination of Judiasm in their countries.
If Biden (or Harris or Trump) were to shut down all Reform Synagogues in the USA, what would be the response to that?
Pope Francis Condemns Ukraine's Ban On Country's Largest Orthodox Church
BY TYLER DURDEN
SUNDAY, AUG 25, 2024
Pope Francis has condemned the Ukrainian government's move to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) which maintains communion with the Moscow Patriarchate.
His Sunday remarks emphasized that "churches are not to be touched" and come the day after President Volodymyr Zelensky signed parliament's newly passed bill into law identified as Bill 8371.
"In thinking of the law recently adopted in Ukraine, I fear for the liberty of those who pray," the pope said. He explained that the state must not be involved in religion.
"One does not commit evil by praying. If someone commits harm against their people, they will be guilty of that, but they cannot have done harm because they prayed," Pope Francis said following a Sunday service.
"Let those who wish to pray in what they consider their Church be allowed to do so," Francis added.
Throughout the war Pope Francis has consistently called for the two sides to immediately enter peace negotiations, while saying that ultimately the winners are the arms manufacturers and those who don't care about the suffering of innocent people.
He has come under criticism, including from Kiev officials, for not just condemning one side (the Russians) like the West does.
As for Christianity in Ukriane, Orthodox clergy members have seen jail time or have been placed under house arrest, or else harassment by mobs of far-right Ukrainian nationalists, for merely calling for peace between the two countries.
According to Ukrainian media:
Over 100 UOC-MP clergy members have come under criminal investigation since the outbreak of the full-scale war, the Security Service of Ukraine's (SBU) press service told the Kyiv Independent.
Almost 50 of them have been charged, and sentences have been issued in 26 cases, the SBU said.
Likely these numbers are about to be a lot higher, as the new law targeting the UOC is expected to enter force 30 days after its publication.
The UOC is being pressured (and now forced) to join a state-sponsored church approved by Zelensky, despite the fact that the majority of the population is loyal to the UOC.
Even a remote or potential 'Russian connection' - be it related to culture, music, language, or religion - has put ordinary Ukrainians under the suspicion of the state and the military of late. This despite that some one-third of the country has always spoken Russian as their first language, especially in the east and parts of the south. All of this has also gone hand in hand with the Zelensky government's efforts to eliminate the Russian language altogether from public life.
watch video of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Christians demonstrating in the streets against Zelensky at:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/pope-francis-condemns-ukraines-ban-countrys-largest-orthodox-church