Being stung by worldwide criticism of His Holiness' appearance of not being very strong in condemning the villain of the war of violent and death producing aggression in the Ukraine, the Dictator Putin, Pope Francis has communicated with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. (I wonder if the pope ridiculed the headgear of the archbishop?):
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Pius XII was also publicly criticized for his supposed "inaction" regarding the Nazis. Among the most scurrilous came from Cornwell in his bogus "exposee," "Hitler's Pope."
To debunk the attacks on Pius one need only read the Christmas Day 1941 editorial in the NYTimes which began: "The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas. The Pope reiterates what he has said before...."
It was bunk, of course, as is this contemporary criticism of Pope Francis. We have NO idea what the pope may have communicated to Mr. Putin. We have NO idea what channels the pope may have used.
Not everyone follows the "Throw It In Their Face" school of non-diplomacy.
Patriarch Kiril is another matter. He has caused great anxiety in the Orthodox world which led the Ukranian Orthodox to move to become autocephalous and which led to 300+ of his own priests calling on him to denounce Putin and this war.
Will wonders never cease, Father K and I see the matter the same way. As I have pointed out a couple of times it was reported that the Pope went to the Russian Embassy in Rome to protest.
The worst thing done to Pius XII was done by a communist operative who wrote a play called "The Deputy. But many "elite" simpletons in the US swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Some basic research would have shown that prominent Israelis praised Pius XII:
Albert Einstein, Israeli Prime Ministers Golda Meir and Moshe Sharett, and Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog, expressed their public gratitude to Pius XII, praising him as a "righteous gentile," who had saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.
But what do they know compared to a communist?
At the surface, it is easy to criticize Patriarch Kirill regarding the war. But, having lived much of his life under the Soviet system and having a president that was part of the Soviet system, I'm sure Kirill, among others, is leery of needlessly rocking the boat with "throw it in their face" "diplomacy". Though removed from that environment, I agree that the same would not likely lead to success for Francis. Our social media age seems to demands instant "throw it in their face" responses to crises such as this; and in proper diplomatic circles, that's not how it works. Leaders shouldn't govern by sound-byte.
For once, I agree with Father Kavanaugh.
Scrape the icicles off the gates of hell.
Do you find this article as disturbing as I do?
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/2019-06-14/how-russian-church-learned-stop-worrying-and-love-bomb
A sampling:
“Officials across the Russian government—including ministers, members of the State Duma and of the Federation Council, senior military commanders, and President Vladimir Putin himself—have taken to openly professing their Orthodox faith. At times, some parts of the public have objected to the state’s privileging of the ROC, but such criticism has done little to diminish the church’s status.
“That the church carries extraordinary weight on Russia’s domestic scene is well-known and not that unusual. What is more surprising, and less often explored, is the church’s influence within Russia’s nuclear weapons complex—the most significant wing of one of the world’s most powerful militaries. There the nexus between church and state runs deepest, widest, and longest. During the last three decades, the priesthood has entered all levels of command and positioned itself as a guardian of Russia’s nuclear potential. It’s impossible to fully understand the strategic reality in Russia today without scrutinizing the remarkable conjunction between the Kremlin, the ROC, and the nuclear weapons community.”
The article gives additional chilling details.
Love him or hate him, Bob Dylan had it about right in his song “With God on Our Side.” Someone has yet to explain to me how God can be on each side against the other one. Oh, yes, that’s right: Our side (whichever it may be) is the “right” one and the other side is the “wrong” one. Silly me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y2FuDY6Q4M
Perhaps the most arresting stanza:
Through many a dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ was
Betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.
Can there be just wars? Of course, but they are far rarer than we are generally manipulated to believe, although the defensive war currently being fought by the Ukrainians presumably satisfies the criteria (however, I defer to those with greater expertise than mine on this point). Even so, what a dreadful, tragic, and unnecessary loss of life—on both sides.
This is an interesting discussion of the question whether just war theory is still relevant and of the norms applicable to Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian attack:
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/just-war-no-more-what-did-pope-francis?s=r
Mark - One can stipulate the existence of a "just war," but...
Much of the thinking that underlies the JW theory came from a time when wars and weapons were very, very different. Soldiers marched against each other and bombs weren't dropped from planes of sent across thousands of mile on missiles. In the past an attack on a village was known only to the local community, now markets, goverments, and citizens around the globe react within minutes to violence
Aquinas argued for the possibility of a "just" offensive war, but . . . that's only a theory.
The largest of the 'sui juris' Eastern churches is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) which as a result of the Union of Brest in 1596 is in full communion with the Holy See. When Pope Francis met Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Havana in 2016 they issued a joint statement which inter alia rejected 'Uniatism' (Uniate is a derogatory term used by the Russian Orthodox to describe the UGCC which makes up the majority in the western oblasts of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil and has many adherents in Britain, Europe and North America).
Having been more or less liquidated by Stalin - only one of its bishops, Cardinal Yosif Slipyi, survived the Gulags - the UGCC remained loyal to Rome, and PF's words were seen by many as a snub.
To be fair to PF, he was pursuing a version of ecumenism which was endorsed by the Second Vatican Council. In a similar vein he opposed Anglicanorum Coetibus and reportedly told a prominent Anglican in Argentina that, rather than join the Ordinariate, he should stay an Anglican.
Vladimir Putin has cultivated the Russian Orthodox Church, which in the tradition of the Byzantine churches has a long history of caesaro-papalism. It is unlikely, therefore, that Patriarch Kirill will openly criticize Putin and what the Russians are doing in Ukraine.
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