Klimkin wants to attract Pope and Canadian Uniates to the creation of SLC
Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavel Klimkin urged the Ukrainian diaspora to help create the Single Local Church and flew to the Vatican for help from Pope Francis.
Ukrainian believers need "help" in the creation of the Single Local Church, for which Klimkin is negotiating with representatives of Ukrainian organizations of Canada and the Vatican, reports Ukrinform.
"We really need to return the Single Local Church to believers, and this requires your help (Ukrainian organizations of Canada – Ed.). We have been working very long on this with the Ecumenical Patriarch. Of course, the impact on him from both the US and Canada is significant. Although we all say that politics is politics, and believers are believers, but let’s be honest: the Russian Church is used in Ukraine for political manipulation," the minister said.
The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also informed that he was flying from Canada to the Vatican to meet with the Secretary of State. "The role of the Vatican in this regard is very important, it can either help and or not so much. I want him to help," the minister said.
Earlier, the UOC stated that the issue of granting church autocephaly falls within the competence of canon law, and not within the competence of the government, since in Ukraine the Church is separated from the state.
