VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis on Sunday condemned the Ukraine government’s move to ban a Russia-linked branch of the country’s Orthodox Church.
“Do not touch churches,” the pope said in his weekly prayers, one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the ban into law.
“In thinking of the law recently adopted in Ukraine, I fear for the liberty of those who pray,” the pope said.
Zelensky — who met with the pope in June at the G7 in Italy — signed a law Saturday banning the Russian-linked Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
Ukraine has been seeking to distance itself from the Russian church since 2014 and the efforts have accelerated since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Zelensky approved the bill, slammed by Russia, on Kyiv’s independence day from the Soviet Union.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church officially broke away from the Moscow patriarchy in 2022, but Ukrainian officials repeatedly accuse its clerics of staying loyal to Russia.
Pope Francis said he continued to follow “with sorrow” the fighting in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022.
Pope Francis condemns Ukraine ban on Russia-linked Orthodox Church
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Pope Francis condemns Ukraine ban on Russia-linked Orthodox Church
Brazil’s Lula accuses Trump of seeking to forge ‘new UN’
- Lula defended multilateralism against what he called “the law of the jungle” in global affairs
- Key US allies including France and Britain have also expressed doubts
BRASILIA: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Donald Trump on Friday of trying to create “a new UN” with his proposed “Board of Peace.”
The veteran leftist joins other world leaders who have avoided signing up for Trump’s new global conflict resolution organization, where a permanent seat costs $1 billion and the chairman is Trump himself.
“Instead of fixing” the United Nations, “what’s happening? President Trump is proposing to create a new UN where only he is the owner,” Lula said.
Trump unveiled his “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos Thursday, joined on stage by leaders and officials from 19 countries to sign its founding charter.
Lula defended multilateralism against what he called “the law of the jungle” in global affairs.
His remarks come a day after he spoke by phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who urged his counterpart to safeguard the “central role” of the United Nations in international affairs.
In his remarks on Friday, Lula said “the UN charter is being torn.”
Although originally intended to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the board’s charter does not seem to limit its role to the Palestinian territory and appears to want to rival the United Nations.
Key US allies including France and Britain have also expressed doubts.
London balked at the inclusion of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces are fighting in Ukraine after invading in 2022.
France said the charter as it currently stood was “incompatible” with its international commitments, especially its UN membership.
