Russian Orthodox ‘Pope’, Catholic Pope at war over Ukraine

Following Pope’s Francis’ remark about Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill becoming Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ‘altar boy’, the Russian Orthodox Church has fired back.

Kirill is a friend of Putin’s.

The church cautioned the Vatican that such remarks would hurt dialogue between the churches.

The Russian Orthodox Church said it was regrettable that a month and a half after Francis and Kirill had spoken directly, the pope had adopted such a tone.

“Pope Francis chose an incorrect tone to convey the content of this conversation,” the Moscow Patriarchy said, though it did not explicitly mention the “altar boy” comment made by the head of the Catholic Church on Tuesday.

The 75-year-old patriarch supports Puti’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.