How the Vatican Appeases Putin’s Orthodox Auxiliaries
A historic first visit took place between Pope Francis and the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) Metropolitan Epifaniy earlier in the month. The head of the independent Ukrainian church thanked the Pope for his humanitarian efforts and stressed the importance of his peace prayers and those of millions of Christians worldwide.
Over four days, the Ukrainian church representatives engaged in a packed itinerary that included various cities and regions in Italy. The Vatican endorsed the trip and facilitated the delegation’s access to key sites, such as the Papal Basilica of Saint Nicholas in Bari (Puglia), allowing the Metropolitan of Kyiv to preside at a Holy Liturgy there. Metropolitan Epifaniy also held a peace prayer at Rome’s Greek Orthodox Church of St Theodore, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, indicating the carefully coordinated preparation for his visit. However, this otherwise meticulously planned trip was overshadowed by one unexpected issue – the Vatican’s media blackout.
Despite its significance, the meeting between the Pope and Epifaniy on Nov. 13 received no coverage in Vatican media. According to the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, journalists were told this was because it was considered a private meeting. The Vatican News website, which is the central hub for the Vatican’s online news content and the official daily bulletin of the Holy See press office, didn’t mention the OCU’s visit at all. This quietness was evident across social media as well and had a cascading effect as the prominent Catholic and international news sources didn’t write about it.
The Vatican’s media communication regarding the Pope’s activities is known to be diligent and prompt. It goes without saying that the Vatican news service is an important force in shaping the global perception of the Catholic church. It offers content in 40 languages. Errors or oversights of this magnitude are not a plausible explanation, as the visit wasn’t mentioned in any official channel.
The Ukrainian side regularly reported on the event at the state level, through its ambassador to the Holy See, Andriy Yurash, who described the meeting as “warm and incredibly sincere.” The Orthodox Church of Ukraine also issued detailed statements and photographs of the visit.
For comparison, Vatican News reported the Pope’s meetings with Metropolitan Anthony, who leads the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department for External Church Relations, in July 2024 and May 2023.
Why has the Vatican chosen to remain silent on this occasion?
The Vatican still sees the Ukrainian Orthodox landscape divided and fragmented between the OCU and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) under Metropolitan Onufry. Publicizing the visit would have signaled that the Pope fully supports Metropolitan Epifaniy and sides with the OCU on all issues, including the most pressing intra-Orthodox split, which weighs heavily on the Orthodox church.
While OCU received an autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2019, several Orthodox churches (Romanian, Serbian, and Bulgarian, to name a few) still refuse to recognize its validity. Any meddling in internal Orthodox issues, such as the Ukrainian church question, would be seen as overstepping.
While the visit was undoubtedly received favorably in Constantinople (Istanbul), where the Ecumenical Patriarch sits, Moscow remains part of the puzzle for building and nurturing ecumenical relations.
Source: Andreja Bogdanovski