Pope warns against using RELIGION for political gainPope Francis has cautioned against leveraging religion for political power, addressing a religious summit in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan Wednesday.
by Agence France-Presse
15-09-2022 06:52
in Christian Connect
Pope Francis blesses attendees during an audience to the Neocatecumenal Way Communities on 27 June, 2022 at Paul-VI hall in The Vatican. Photo: Andreas SOLARO / AFP
Pope Francis cautioned against leveraging religion for political power, addressing a religious summit in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan Wednesday, in what appeared to be criticism of pro-Kremlin Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill.
--
The Russian Orthodox Church meanwhile said it was ready for a new meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis following weeks of diplomatic tensions sparked by the Ukraine war.
Pope Francis warned on Wednesday that faith should not be manipulated to defend conflict or buttress power.
May we never justify violence. May we never allow the sacred to be exploited by the profane.
The sacred must never be a prop for power, nor power a prop for the sacred,
he said, to applause from the crowd. ALSO READ: Breaking Bread: The cross at Calvary and what it means
--
Over the summer, the pope went to so far as to warn Kirill not to become Putin's altar boy , which irritated Moscow's patriarch.
While the pope has previously called for peace in Ukraine, denouncing a cruel and senseless war , Kirill has defended Putin's operation and arguing that Russia is fighting evil forces there.
The meeting the pope addressed on Wednesday was attended by around 100 delegations from 50 countries but Patriarch Kirill was a notable absentee.
--
The pope did however speak with Kirill's foreign minister, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, for around 15 minutes.
Manipulations' Anthony said a meeting between the two pontiffs was a possibility, provided it was well prepared.
We need to see when, where (this would happen) and the most important thing is that we want something concrete to come out of the meeting, such as the joint call that we had in Havana,
he told journalists, referring to a historic 2016 meeting between Francis and Kirill in Cuba the first since the schism in the Christian church in 1054. Anthony said the pope himself thought a meeting was needed and regretted that a meeting planned in June in Jerusalem had been scrapped.
We were ready for this meeting, but it was cancelled by the Holy See, after an announcement by Pope Francis in an interview to Italian daily Corriere della Sera in May.
Anthony stressed the need for the two religious leaders to move forward .
A message from Kirill, published on the Orthodox Church's website and sent to participants of the meeting, said that we have witnessed distortions of historical facts and unprecedented manipulations of mass consciousness.
More than ever before, people find it difficult to navigate the flow of information, resist ideological indoctrination, and maintain a sober mind and peace of mind
Kirill said. Russia paints itself as a target of anti-Russian campaigns that it says the collective West is conducting to try to shore up waning influence.
But Kirill's pro-war stance caused upheavals in the religious world, prompting the Moscow-backed branch of Ukraine's Orthodox Church to sever ties with Russia.
It also put a damper on Kirill's relationship with the Vatican: in March, the pope had already said that the Church must not use the language of politics .
A beautiful sign' The pope gave a mass on Wednesday afternoon in front of a quiet crowd of 3 000 people, who he greeted from his Popemobile .
It can be sometimes challenging to be Catholic here, and that visit renews my belief,
27-year-old Sagynysh Mukhametkaliyeva told AFP. The population of Kazakhstan is 70% Muslim, 25% Orthodox and less than 1% Catholic.
Jeremy Convert, a 25-year-old French citizen said he was touched to see worshippers from many different faiths, muslims, orthodox people, atheists in the crowd.
It's a beautiful sign for Kazakhstan because the country has been working hard on finding unity,
he added. The 85-year-old Argentinian pope, who is forced by knee pain to use a wheelchair, arrived on Tuesday in Nur-Sultan for his 38th trip abroad since becoming pontiff in 2013.
He is the second pope to visit Kazakhstan after John Paul II's trip in September 2001.
Agence France-Presse
How well do you know House of Zwide'? ENTER QUIZ & WIN R1 000 in cash!
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
27/04/2024
On April 26, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher E. Kubasik joined CNBC's Mor...
27/04/2024
PORTLAND, Oregon Audinate Group Limited, the developer of the Dante AV-over-IP solution, announced significant new additions to Dante Connect, its cloud-based D...
27/04/2024
TORONTO Bell Media has launched 10 English and French-language FAST channels featuring entertainment, factual, news, and sports programming. The new free stream...
27/04/2024
An extensive new analysis of the news segments in the broadcast evening news programs of ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS has found that broadcasters devoted most of their...
27/04/2024
GERMANTOWN, Md. EchoStar's Hughes Network Systems has opened a new manufacturing facility and private 5G incubation center in Germantown, Maryland....
27/04/2024
Harry Pappas, one of three brothers who founded Pappas Telecasting Companies in 1971, died April 24. He was 78 years old....
27/04/2024
ATLANTA and LONDON Mexican telecommunications and broadcast company Televisa has selected Synamedia for an overhaul of its broadcast distribution....
27/04/2024
Participate in the Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this surve...
27/04/2024
SDVI Rally Access Workstation Earns Two Top Awards at 2024 NAB Show
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
SDVI, the leading platform provider for clo...
27/04/2024
Berklee's Music and Health Institute Launches Community Health Musician Cert...
27/04/2024
Charter Communications reported higher first-quarter profits despite continued cord-cutting and competition for broadband customers....
27/04/2024
Two environmentally-focused groups are partnering to engage the unscripted TV world in finding better ways to address climate change. Reality of Change is an ec...
27/04/2024
Sarah Garcia has been promoted to weekend anchor at KTLM McAllen, Texas, known as Telemundo 40. Starting April 27, she will anchor Noticias Telemundo 40 weekend...
27/04/2024
CBS Sports said it launched a new 24-hour free, ad supported streaming television (FAST) channel devoted to the UEFA Champions League....
27/04/2024
Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received $35.4 million in compensation in 2023, up 11% from the previous year, according to a proxy statement filed by th...
27/04/2024
Art Happens Here With John Lithgow, which sees the actor study dance, ceramics, silk-screen printing and vocal jazz with students in Los Angeles, debuts on PBS ...
27/04/2024
Remember Leave It to Beaver? Bewitched? Dragnet? When cable ratings were rising?...
27/04/2024
Next up for the weekend binge at Catchy Comedy is Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Every weekend, Catchy Comedy features The Catchy Binge, a marathon of a classic sitcom....
26/04/2024
Sundance Film Festival CDMX 2024 kicks-off today with screenings in 5 theaters in Mexico City and the opening-night film, FRIDA, directed by Carla Guti rrez...
26/04/2024
[Editor's Note: This interview is part of a larger feature about the women d...
26/04/2024
Once again this year, SGL Carbon opened its doors to interested children and young people. On the occasion of the German Girls and Boys Day, which took place on...
26/04/2024
Orders1 of $5.5 billion; book-to-bill of 1.06x
Revenue of $5.2 billion, up 17%,...
26/04/2024
Five Considerations For Communications Modernization In The 21st Century
In the digital-enabled battlespace, the Joint Force needs to shoot, move and communica...
26/04/2024
CBS Sports has launched Champions League as a new, 24-hour streaming channel that will serve as the year-round destination for nonstop highlights of the UEFA ...
26/04/2024
Despite tough competition in the streaming space, Roku reported solid results in Q1 2024, beating revenue expectations, with total net revenue up 19% YoY to $88...
26/04/2024
LONDON AND TORONTO Pinewood Toronto Studios has appointed Sarah Farrell as general manager of the Studios in downtown Toronto....
26/04/2024
Quantum to Offer Advanced Filesharing Technology and Performance in StorNext and...
26/04/2024
FilmLight Colour Awards welcomes 2024 entries and introduces new Emerging Talen...
26/04/2024
Picture Shop Announces Chris Evans as Head of Unscripted
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
Picture Shop announced Chris Evans will lead Unscripte...
26/04/2024
Participate in a Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this survey,...
26/04/2024
Toy maker Mattel said it is working with Samsung to launch its first free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels later this year....
26/04/2024
Trusted Media Brands (TMB) said it named Marty Moe as president....
26/04/2024
Ron Howard is the director on Jim Henson Idea Man, a documentary that premieres on Disney Plus May 31. Henson of course created Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Big...
26/04/2024
The ice continues to melt under the regional sports network business as the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League have made a long-term deal to broadcast...
26/04/2024
Heading into the upfronts, Warner Bros. Discovery said it launched Olli, a first-party data platform advertiser can use for converged, targeted advertising camp...
26/04/2024
CBS has renewed the drama The Equalizer, which will see season five on in 2024-2025. Queen Latifah stars....
26/04/2024
The CW has entered into an exclusive multiyear broadcast partnership for the Miss USA Pageant and the Miss Teen USA Pageant. The 73rd Miss USA Pageant will air ...
26/04/2024
Fuse Media isn't mincing words in a campaign urging its young viewers to register and participate in the 2024 elections....
26/04/2024
Dead Boy Detectives, a series from Neil Gaiman about a detective agency staffed by ghosts, debuts on Netflix April 25. George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri are in t...
26/04/2024
The Story Collective has gradually repurposed the former Mortlake Brewery to include production offices, workshops and sound stages
By Matthew Corrigan
Publi...
26/04/2024
Perkett joins the company following a 25 year career in product management, product marketing, engineering and user experience (UX) across multiple industries
...
26/04/2024
Teradek, the industry leader in wireless video transmitters and receivers, announced today the launch of new Bolt 6 LT 750 and Bolt 6 Monitor Module 750 RX with...
26/04/2024
NEW YORK Amagi has appointed Richard Perkett chief product officer (CPO)....
26/04/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced the results of the 2024 NAB Radio and Television Board of Directors elections. The...
26/04/2024
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. & NEW YORK Mattel has announced a deal to launch its first three 24/7 free ad supported streaming (FAST) channels on Samsung TV Plus, Samsung...
26/04/2024
PORTLAND, Maine Viewers here can now receive the NextGen TV signals of five local stations with the launch of ATSC 3.0 service from host station WPFO, which is ...
Pope warns against using RELIGION for political gainPope Francis has cautioned against leveraging religion for political power, addressing a religious summit in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan Wednesday.
