Metropolitan Hilarion to discuss the situation in Ukraine with Pope Francis

митрополит Волоколамский Иларион

The head of the DECR of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk intends on Friday to discuss with Pope Francis the church situation in Ukraine and the complication of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, reports the TASS news agency.

“Yes, I am going to talk about this with the Pope,” the ROC hierarch replied to a journalist’s question. “We do not expect the Pope to intervene in this situation, somehow trying to resolve it. But I will inform him of the decision taken by our Synod.”

According to the news agency, on Thursday, Metropolitan Hilarion spoke at the Synod of Catholic Bishops in the Vatican on the topic of youth. The Vatican explained that the ROC hierarch took part in the meeting as a "representative of the fraternal Church." In the evening, in one of the central basilicas of Rome – the Holy Apostles’ – a concert of the Academic Great Choir "Masters of Choral Singing" took place, in which the compositions of the metropolitan were performed.

Earlier, a diplomatic source in the Vatican said that the Holy See "categorically does not interfere in the affairs of Orthodoxy" and assumed that "the Holy See would not come into contact with the Church recognized by [Patriarch of Constantinople] Bartholomew".

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