Russian Orthodox Church Raps Pope Francis Over 'Putin's Altar Boy' Jab

The Russian Orthodox Church scolded Pope Francis for using the wrong tone after he urged Patriarch Kirill not to become the Kremlin's "altar boy," cautioning the Vatican that such remarks would hurt dialogue between the churches, Guy Faulconbridge reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Patriarch Kirill and Russian President Vladimir Putin

Francis told Italy's Corriere Della Sera newspaper that Kirill, who has given the Ukraine war his backing, "cannot become President Vladimir Putin's altar boy."

The Russian Orthodox Church said it was regrettable that a month and a half after Francis and Kirill, the patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, 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.

"Such statements are unlikely to contribute to the establishment of a constructive dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches, which is especially necessary at the present time."

Kirill, 75, a close ally of Putin, sees the war as a bulwark against a West he considers decadent, particularly over the acceptance of homosexuality. The Russian Orthodox Church is by far the biggest of the churches in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which split with Western Christianity in the Great Schism of 1054.

Today it has about 100 million followers within Russia and more outside.

Ukraine has about 30 million Orthodox believers, divided between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and two other Orthodox Churches, one of which is the autocephalous, or self-governing, Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Francis, 85, has asked for a meeting in Moscow with Putin about Ukraine but the Kremlin said on Wednesday there was no agreement on this.

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