Pope expresses concern about religious freedom in Ukraine after ban on Russian church

Pope Francis has commented on a new law in Ukraine that restricts the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, expressing concern about its impact on religious freedom in the country.

The Pope's remarks on Sunday, August 25, came just a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy officially signed Law 8371, a law in which the Ukrainian parliament passed a measure banning the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Ukraine and prohibiting the activities of all religious organizations affiliated with Moscow.

“When I think of the laws recently passed in Ukraine, I fear for the freedom of those who pray,” Francis said during his Angelus address at noon.

“A man does not do evil because he prays. If someone does evil against his people, he will be guilty of it, but he cannot have done evil because he prayed.”

The Pope continued: “Whoever wishes to pray should be allowed to pray in the Church that he considers his own,” and demanded:

“Please, do not allow any Christian church to be abolished directly or indirectly. Churches must not be touched.”

According to media reports, 265 parliamentarians voted for the bill, officially titled “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations,” 29 voted against and four abstained.

Under the terms of the law, parishes and monastic communities of the Russian-supported church have nine months to break their ties with Moscow and join a Ukrainian denomination instead.

The Ukrainian government first introduced this measure in January 2023, sparking a broad global debate about religious freedom in the context of a national defense crisis.

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Francis' comments came just a day after Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, appealed to the pope and other world religious leaders to “raise their voices in defense of the persecuted believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”

By showing understanding for Russian objections, Pope Francis may risk alienating members of his own Catholic community in Ukraine. In a recent interview, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, the largest of the 23 Eastern Catholic churches, defended the new law, saying it was necessary to prevent the instrumentalization of religion.

Shevchuk said the new law also aims to provide protection against ideological claims and narratives that describe Ukraine as part of the “Russian world” and speak of creating a “Russian peace” in Ukraine.

The Major Archbishop stressed that the law should actually protect religious freedom from manipulation, but at the same time acknowledged that “it is important to monitor how it is implemented in practice”.

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The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations also supported the new law.

“The Moscow Patriarchate justifies pogroms and restrictions on religious freedom, torture and murders of priests and pastors, and cynically tramples on God's instructions and basic norms of universal morality,” the council said in a statement.

In response to the Pope's comments on Sunday, the Ukrainian embassy to the Holy See told reporters that the new law does not affect anyone's private ability to pray as they wish.

However, retired American lawyer Peter Anderson, who follows the problems of the Orthodox world, said the embassy's response was not entirely accurate.

“It is true that the law does not prevent people from praying at home. However, they will probably not be able to pray in their own church,” Anderson said, describing the Pope's comments that churches should not be touched as “completely correct.”

Anderson also stressed that the new law likely means that the ROC branch in Ukraine will have to be dissolved and its assets transferred to churches recognized by Kyiv.

Photo: Pope Francis delivers the Angelus address from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, Vatican City, August 25, 2024. (Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images.)