“Churches do not touch each other!”: Pope responds to ban in Ukraine on Orthodox linked to the Moscow Patriarchate

Pope Francis spoke today about the recent approval in Ukraine of a law that prohibits the presence in the country of the Orthodox Church linked to the Patriarchate of Moscow (Russia), and asked “that those who want to pray be allowed to pray in what they consider his Church.”

After praying the Angelus this Sunday, August 25, in front of the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, the Holy Father expressed: “I continue to follow with pain the fighting in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation, and thinking about the “Law regulations recently adopted in Ukraine make me afraid for the freedom of those who pray, because those who truly pray always pray for everyone.”

“There is no harm in praying. If someone does wrong to his people, he will be guilty of this, but he cannot have done wrong because he prayed,” the Pope said.

“And then let those who want to pray in what they consider their Church be allowed to pray. Please let no Christian Church be abolished, directly or indirectly. The Churches are not touched! “He added.

On August 20, with a large majority, the Ukrainian parliament banned the presence in the country of any religious organization linked to Russia, the country that sparked the war between both nations in February 2022. The regulation is titled “On the protection of constitutional order in the context of the activities of religious organizations.”

Pope Francis today also asked that the Catholic faithful continue praying “for an end to the wars, in Palestine, in Israel, in Myanmar and in any other region. The people ask for peace! Let us pray that the Lord gives us all peace.”