Few in our media pointed out that after a joint telephone conversation between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis, which took place on April 14 following the further aggravation of the situation in Syria, the Russian media published a “joint statement”. It looked rather strange, as the Vatican's media were silent on this subject. The material, which was published as early as on May 21 on The Daily Beast, suggests that this whole statement by Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis was made to order (as apparently a previous joint declaration) of the leadership of the Russian Federation, which had to somehow find those who could be presented as allies in the Western world against the backdrop of international isolation due to the Russian military intervention in Syria and Ukraine.

But the consent to sign a “joint declaration” was not received from Pope Francis. Instead, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev's office used the name of the Pope without informing the latter. Consequently, there was a conflict between Cardinal Koch and Metropolitan Hilarion, and subsequently, respectively, between the latter and Patriarch Kirill.

It looks like things went so much sideways that they had to resort to big lie, using the name of the pope ... Is it possible now that the hypothetical meeting of Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis in Bari this summer that was recently so cautiously announced is an interesting question. The fact that the Moscow Patriarch and his bosses in the Kremlin to date need such an appointment is evidenced by all this insinuation with the “joint statement”. The situation for the leadership of the Russian Federation has become even worse on the background of yesterday's statement by the international Joint Investigative Group investigating the Malaysian Boeing crash. It announced that the aircraft was shot down by the Buk missile system from the 53rd Air Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, which was located in the Russian city of Kursk. So the meeting with the Pope now is again necessary... Is it necessary for the Pope ???

In this connection, the words of recent appeal by the Synod of the UOC (MP) sound amusing, as they stand against the use of the Church in the geopolitical struggle. The first such appeal should sent to Mr. Putin, who uses not only the UOC (MP), but the entire Moscow Patriarchate uses in his geopolitical play. The latter, obviously, is not against and has never opposed.