In an interview with the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung, quoted by the Belarusian service of Vatican News, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity (an analogue of the ministry in other countries) noted that Kirill was convinced of Russia's "special mission", which consists in "protecting Christian values ​​from decadent To the west."

Therefore, during Cardinal Koch's visit to Moscow, he offered him a strategic alliance to protect these values.

The Vatican hierarch unequivocally rejected the proposal of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

"I knew Kirill's ideas.

Nevertheless, I did not expect that he would go so far and legitimize an aggressive war.

It surprised me a lot," he admitted.

Patriarch of Moscow criticized the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church "at every meeting".

He accused her of "poaching" against Orthodox believers.

The cardinal said that he had to reject these accusations several times.

Cardinal Kurt Koch

Koch drew attention to the fact that there is still no "concrete answer" to the Pope's proposal to go to Moscow and meet with Vladimir Putin and Kirill.

He also considers the Pontiff's trip to Ukraine unlikely at the moment.

"Doctors do not advise traveling by train to Kyiv.

The pope is full of energy, but the condition of his knee still forces him to move around in a wheelchair," the cardinal said.

Koch does not see a moral problem in supplying weapons to Ukraine.

"Absolute pacifism, which stands aside when violence is used, is not Christian.

If there is unjust violence and I can intervene, I must do it," explained the Swiss theologian.

He referred to the words of Francis, who during a press conference on board the plane, returning from Kazakhstan, called the supply of weapons to Kiev morally justified "when it comes to helping the victims of aggression in their defense."