Pope Francis expressed concern about the decision Kyiv to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UPC) which is affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate.
"No Christian church should be abolished directly or indirectly," the Pope said on the occasion.
He added that he continues to follow the struggles in Ukraine and Russia with pain, and that, bearing in mind the laws recently adopted in Ukraine, he feels concern for the freedom of those who pray, because, as he stated, "who really prays, he does for everyone", reports N1.
According to his words, whoever prays does not do evil, and if someone did evil to his people, he will bear the guilt for it, but he could not cause evil by praying to God.
"Therefore, whoever wants to pray should be allowed to do so in the church he considers his own." Please do not let any Christian church be abolished, directly or indirectly. Churches are not touched," said the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
On August 20, the Ukrainian Supreme Labor Party adopted a law banning the canonical UPC.
The law was supported by 265 deputies, it will enter into force 30 days after its publication.
On August 17, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations supported the bill on banning the canonical UPC. The members of the All-Ukrainian Council expressed their support for the course of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky "towards spiritual independence, protection of the constitutional order, public security, human rights and basic freedoms".
Before that, on August 16, the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Humanitarian and Information Policy supported the amendments to the draft law on banning UPC.
The Ukrainian authorities banned the operation of UPC in the Rivne region, and a similar decision was made in the Lviv, Khmelnytskyi and Volyn regions.
In 2022, the Ukrainian authorities intensified their actions against the UPC. They searched bishops and priests, churches and monasteries, including the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, in order to find traces of "anti-Ukrainian activity".
