Every day, Aleteia offers a selection of articles written by the international press about the Church and the major issues that concern Catholics around the world. The opinions and views expressed in these articles are not those of the editors.
1How is the Russia-Ukraine war linked to religion?
Ukraine’s complicated political history with Russia is also mirrored in the religious landscape, as the majority Orthodox Christian population is divided between an independent Church based in Kyiv and an autonomous branch linked to the patriarch in Moscow. As Orthodox churches are usually organized along national lines, political leaders have tried to capitalize on this split within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine in part as a defense of the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church. However, local leaders of both Ukrainian factions have denounced the invasion, as has Ukraine’s Catholic minority. Some US Orthodox hope the two groups can put their disagreements aside and unite to try and end the war, but also fear that the conflict may worsen this split.
AP, English
2The Orthodox Response to Putin’s Invasion
The director of Fordham University’s Center of Orthodox Christian Studies assesses the range of statements by Orthodox leaders since Russian troops entered Ukraine on Feb. 24. He notes "considerable variation" in the statements, from "the ridiculous, the generic, the strident and the surprising." He says that "many of the leaders of the Russian Church (whether inside or outside of Russia) have been infected by Putin’s nationalist propaganda." In particular, George Demacopoulos criticizes Patriarch Kirill of Moscow for abandoning “his pastoral responsibility by refusing to challenge Putin." Some of “the most tepid” statements, he points out, came from the Church of Bulgaria, Serbia and the Church of Jerusalem, which "offered no sense that there was an aggressor in the current crisis." Other churches were more explicit, such as the Church of Greece, the Church of Romania and the Church of Finland, which strongly condemned “the military actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine" and called on the Patriarchate of Moscow to promote peace. For the expert, "it is also possible that a drawn-out war will hasten the move of Orthodox in Ukraine away from the Moscow Patriarchate and into the new autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
Commonweal, English
3Pope Francis and the Vatican's new foreign policy
If Pope Francis is not part of the long list of "diplomatic popes," the German historian Ernesti Jörg considers that the choice of Cardinal Pietro Parolin as Secretary of State places him in the continuity of a great political-diplomatic tradition. The Argentine pontiff's diplomacy is expressed less in his strategic speeches than in his encyclicals, which are true interpretations of the teachings of his predecessors, especially those of Paul VI. His central line, which refuses to make radical breaks, is above all that of dialogue. This leads him to enter into intense discussion, in the logic of the encyclical 'Ecclesiam Suam' by Paul VI, with non-believers, with ecology, development and the sovereignty of peoples as innovative themes of preference.
Herder Korrespondenz, German
4Pope Francis meets members of the Order of Malta to discuss its reform
Pope Francis received in an audience on Feb. 26 several members of the Order of Malta to discuss its reform. These included Lieutenant Grand Master Fra’ Marco Luzzago, Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi and his working group and a delegation of the Order. In a letter sent to the Order’s leaders worldwide, Marwan Sehnaoui, Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Constitutional reform process, said that the Pope “had taken to himself the final decision-making of the critical issues regarding the Order’s constitutional reform.” “Pope Francis listened carefully to the presentations and interventions of both sides,” Sehnaoui writes. The pontiff “said that there is no urgency in making a final decision” and that “he wishes to gather and review more information.” The letter concludes by saying he will probably convene another audience.
Order of Malta, English
5At the Angelus, Pope Francis remembers the blessed martyrs of Granada
"May the witness of these heroic followers of Christ awaken in each of us the desire to serve the Gospel with fidelity and courage," the Pope said Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, during the Angelus prayer. These martyrs were beatified yesterday in Granada, Spain. They are the priest Gaetano Giménez Martín and 15 of his companions, killed in odium fidei (for hatred of the faith) in the context of the religious persecution of the 1930s in Spain. "Let us applaud the new Blesseds," the Pontiff added. In the rest of his speech, he dedicated a special greeting to all those celebrating Rare Disease Day tomorrow: "I encourage the various associations of patients and families, as well as the researchers who work in this field. I am close to you."
Vatican News, Spanish
