Pope Responds After Ukraine Pledges to Shut Down Thousands of Churches Tied To Russia
The Pope has responded after President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill banning churches, denominations, and religious groups tied to Russia, saying, “I fear for the freedom of those who pray, because those who truly pray always pray for all.”
Last week, Zelensky’s government passed a bill that explicitly bans the Russian Orthodox Church on Ukrainian territory and gives nine months for “affiliated” groups linked to Russia to cut all ties, lest they be shut down with a court order and forced to leave the country.
While not signaling them out specifically by name, the move is widely viewed as an attack on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOCMP), which was established in the country as the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC,) neither which should be viewed as biblical, faithful, or theologically sound denominations.
The UOCMP allegedly cut ties with Russia in 2022 after the invasion of their country (which the ROC supported), but their efforts to convince their fellow citizens of a clean and genuine break have been unsuccessful.
The vast majority of Ukrainian citizens and government leaders remain unconvinced of their split and separation, with Reuters reporting that “Opinion polls showed that about 82% of Ukrainians did not trust the UOC and only about 8% of the population trusted it.” According to the RNS, “A study conducted in April by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 83% of Ukrainians felt that the government should intervene in the activities of the UOCMP, while 63% supported banning the church altogether.”
Many clergy and officials accused the church, which has over 8000 parishes and 12,000 clerics, of spreading propaganda and aiding and abetting Russian spies. Security services have already launched over 100 proceedings against UOCMP clergy and leaders.
Pope Francis has opposed the move, telling reporters after Sunday’s prayer service:
“In thinking about the laws recently adopted in Ukraine, I fear for the freedom of those who pray, because those who truly pray always pray for all. 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. Let those who want to pray be allowed to pray in what they consider their church. Please, let no Christian church be abolished directly or indirectly. Churches are not to be touched!”
Naturally, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov echoed the sentiments of the decrepit Roman pontiff, telling reporters. “This is an open attack on freedom of religion, an attack on the Orthodox Church as a whole, and an attack on Christianity,”
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There is more to hate about the Ukrainian government than most people are aware of. Closing Christian churches (even if you are not a fan of their theology) is business as usual for Zelinsky and company.
But by all means, let’s stoke this bloody and meaningless war with more billions of our tax dollars.