Pope cancels meeting with ROC Primate: "Now is not the time"
Pope Francis has announced that his meeting with Patriarch Kirill, scheduled for June, will not take place, reports the Argentine newspaper La Nacion.
"I regret that the Vatican had to cancel the meeting with Patriarch Kirill that we had planned for June in Jerusalem. But our diplomacy understands that a meeting at that time could lead to great confusion," Francis said, stressing that he has always advocated interreligious dialogue.
The pontiff also explained why he did not go to Kyiv.
"I cannot do anything that jeopardises the higher goals, which are the end of the war, the truce or at least the organisation of humanitarian corridors. What good does a trip to Kyiv do to the Pope if the war continues the next day?" he asked.
At the same time, the Pope described his relations with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church as "very good".
As reported, President Zelensky asked the Pope to mediate in negotiations with Russia.
Read also
U.S. bishops call for Church unity on Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy
The Assembly of Bishops of the USA has issued an encyclical for the Triumph of Orthodoxy on Church unity, veneration of icons, and support for pan-Orthodox ministry.
OCU organizes harassment of businessman for aiding UOC
Hryshchuk called for boycotting the business of the entrepreneur who built a UOC church in the Rivne region.
Head of Lavra Reserve: I believe UOC monks will move to the OCU
Ostapenko said there are 140 UOC monks and novices on the territory of the Lower Lavra.
"Shield of Judah": Biblical name given to operations against Iran
A joint Israeli–US military operation against Iran has received a code name referencing the biblical forefather of the Jewish royal line.
In Syria, Islamic militants behead statues of Christ and Virgin Mary
Vandals beheaded statues of the Lord and the Mother of God at the entrance to the "Cave of the Virgin Mary" in the village of Al-Basiya near the coastal city of Banias in Syria.
Icon with particle of Gabriel Urgebadze's relics to be brought to Uzhhorod from Georgia
The holy icon, painted in Georgia, will be brought to the Holy Trinity Church of the Mukachevo Eparchy of the UOC.