The Chairman of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, should apologize for accusing Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ of heresy, Metropolitan Leonid (Gorbachev) of Klin, Patriarchal Exarch of Africa, told RIA Novosti.

“Why shouldn’t Cardinal Koch apologize to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ and Russia for calling the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church a heretic?” Metropolitan Leonid told RIA Novosti.

Any church or state leader, the exarch emphasized, has the right to build domestic and foreign policy, and this is a correct and pragmatic approach, however, “the pontiff officially meets with Ukrainian schismatic leaders, whom he did not scold, but rather warmly received.” “I am generally silent about behind-the-scenes negotiations with Istanbul Bartholomew (Patriarch of Constantinople – ed.),” the exarch said.