Pope Francis condemns Ukraine’s ban on Russian Orthodox Church

Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer, traditional Sunday's prayer, from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City.
Photo: EPA

Pope Francis 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 2022.

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.

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