15 February 2016, The Tablet

Francis gives away a lot to the Russians in joint agreement

by Christopher Lamb in Rome

Sterner words on marriage but little is said on climate change in joint agreement

 
Pope Francis’ meeting with Patriarch Kirill was an historic moment and a step towards healing the long rift between western and eastern Christianity.  After years of talk about such an encounter credit must be given to Francis for making it finally happen. And the fact it took place in the “crossroads” country of Cuba, rather than in more traditional impartial countries such as Geneva or Vienna, is a sign that the Pope wants to encourage emerging places of influence in the world.  But reading the joint declaration released by the Pope and the Patriarch following their meeting, it is hard not to be left with the impression that Francis has given a lot to the Russian side.   One area where this stands out is on marriage. “We regret that other forms
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User Comments (2)

Comment by: Speighdd
Posted: 18/02/2016 02:03:32
The impression that Pope Francis has conceded a lot to Patriarch Kirill over discouraging Russian Orthodox Christians from transferring across to the Greek Catholic Church, is limited in its validity to stopping short of preventing them from doing so. The impression, however, that Pope Francis has conceded too much also by speaking out more forcefully, in tune with Patriarch Kirill, about the nature of marriage and its illegitimate reduction to other forms of cohabitation, than he has been accustomed to hitherto, is due to mistaking a straightforward declaration of Church teaching, for the real concession that Pope Francis made by the diplomacy of his previous presentation of the Church’s teaching about marriage, which was not to Patriarch Kirill, but to the homosexual movement and its sympathisers.
Comment by: CheckOut
Posted: 16/02/2016 13:15:11
The Pope gave up anything on the marriage issue. The Orthodox belief is entirely consistent with that of the majority of Catholics and Christians in the world. The uniatism verbiage is clearly something the Orthodox were obligated to state, and the Pope loses nothing in so permitting.