Thank you for this article helping us understand what is happening in Ukraine.
If a Catholic bishop said anything like what the Moscow Patriarch said, the pope would remove him from office. So why doesn't the pope remove Kirill? If he indeed has the authority over all the Churches, he should do it. We have seen Pope Francis remove bishops against their will. What stops him from excommunicating Kirill? Not for failing to recognize the authority of Rome but for failing to be a Patriarch of Moscow. Not an excommunication that extends to the office and each successor, but an excommunication of the man for misuse of office. Of course, Kirill would not accept this, but that is beside the point. Does the pope even claim to have jurisdiction over Russia?
Is anyone else mystified by this papacy's seeming incoherence on the most impactful issues it positions itself on? Why, for instance, does it sweep aside all notions of a "just war" (and by so doing, rejects the notion of an "unjust war"), while in almost (in terms of the calendar) the *same breath*, twists itself into tortured knots to justify the faithful participating in the grave moral evil (and the extremely dubious technical achievement) that is the Covid vaccine. Any dispassionate witness of these two teachings should be left bewildered at the inconsistency: when is a black/white good/evil moral proposition not subject to a simple binary choice/judgement? And, more important: why? Why is this context so different than that context? I confess that despite my desire to unfailingly follow His Church as our surest path to salvation, at times like this I am left shaking my head and wondering how the Church can vacillate from JPII's unwavering support for human dignity to what we witness now.
Thank you for this article helping us understand what is happening in Ukraine.
If a Catholic bishop said anything like what the Moscow Patriarch said, the pope would remove him from office. So why doesn't the pope remove Kirill? If he indeed has the authority over all the Churches, he should do it. We have seen Pope Francis remove bishops against their will. What stops him from excommunicating Kirill? Not for failing to recognize the authority of Rome but for failing to be a Patriarch of Moscow. Not an excommunication that extends to the office and each successor, but an excommunication of the man for misuse of office. Of course, Kirill would not accept this, but that is beside the point. Does the pope even claim to have jurisdiction over Russia?
Is anyone else mystified by this papacy's seeming incoherence on the most impactful issues it positions itself on? Why, for instance, does it sweep aside all notions of a "just war" (and by so doing, rejects the notion of an "unjust war"), while in almost (in terms of the calendar) the *same breath*, twists itself into tortured knots to justify the faithful participating in the grave moral evil (and the extremely dubious technical achievement) that is the Covid vaccine. Any dispassionate witness of these two teachings should be left bewildered at the inconsistency: when is a black/white good/evil moral proposition not subject to a simple binary choice/judgement? And, more important: why? Why is this context so different than that context? I confess that despite my desire to unfailingly follow His Church as our surest path to salvation, at times like this I am left shaking my head and wondering how the Church can vacillate from JPII's unwavering support for human dignity to what we witness now.
“This pope can be firm and straight only with traditional Catholics, but not with Moscow…” My thoughts exactly.