Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill spoke with one voice urging to protect Christians from persecution in the Middle East, Metropolitan of Minsk and Mogilev of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz told media on 13 February, BelTA informs.
According to Metropolitan, the hierarchs discussed a wide range of issues regarding not only the interaction between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, but also the challenges of the modern world, in particular, the situation of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa, in the places where the Christianity was born. "The two Christian leaders spoke with one voice urging to protect Christians from persecution in the Middle East," the Metropolitan said. He noted with regret that due to the complicated situation in those regions the Christians have to leave their homes.
As was reported earlier, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met for the first time in the history on 12 February 2016. The Popes met only with Constantinople patriarchs before. The meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill took place in Cuba. The hierarchs adopted a joint declaration. The document pertains to the Belarusian Exarchate which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church.