Metropolitan Hilarion, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate, doubts that the visit of Pope Francis to Ukraine is possible in conditions when the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is being discriminated against. He told a TASS correspondent about this after meeting with the pontiff.

“The situation in Ukraine continues to remain difficult. In addition to the fact that there are political difficulties, there is also a church schism, which not only was not healed by the actions of Constantinople, but was aggravated. The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, uniting millions of believers, has more than 12 thousand people. parishes, more than 250 monasteries, the Church, which represents the largest religious denomination in Ukraine, is now being discriminated against, and in some places – persecuted, “Hilarion said.

He noted that what is happening is causing concern for the Russian Orthodox Church. “I don’t know how long Pope Francis’s visit to Ukraine will be possible in such a situation,” Hilarion said. “It’s up to him, not us,” he added.

As the Telegram channel Pravblog notes, “against the background of focusing on the problem of pressure on the UOC, the question of the growth of Catholic expansion in Ukraine remained aside.”