Pope Benedict XVI has agreed with the Russian Orthodox Church’s
position regarding acts of vandalism in downtown Moscow’s Christ the
Savior Cathedral, the Church said.
“Pope Benedict XVI has expressed solidarity with the Russian Orthodox
Church’s position on the issue and perplexity over the reaction of a
number of media to these events,” the church said on its website on
Wednesday.
It said the head of the Roman Catholic Church also expressed his
“words of support to the Russian Church in connection with the
blasphemous act in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in February.”
The issues were discussed at a meeting between Metropolitan Hilarion
of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Russian Church's Department of External
Church Relations, and the Pope in the Vatican on Tuesday.
In September, a man poured ink on an icon
in the central Moscow cathedral. Earlier, vandals sawed down crosses in
three Russian regions. In March a man chopped 38 icons in the Vologda
Region with an ax. The events followed February’s “punk prayer” by the Pussy Riot punk band in the Christ the Savior Cathedral.
An edited clip of Pussy Riot’s protest in late February posted online
showed the group alternately high-kicking near the entrance to the
altar of the Christ the Savior Cathedral, accompanying the “Holy S**t”
song urging the Virgin Mary to “drive [Vladimir] Putin out.” The song
contained words insulting to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia
and to believers.
Three band members were found guilty of hooliganism aimed at inciting
religious hatred and jailed for two years each on August 17. The prison
term for one of them was later replaced with a suspended sentence. The
trial and sentences attracted unprecedented media attention and
international criticism, which Moscow dismissed as "groundless" saying
the band's act was not an issue of artistic performance but was
"insulting to millions of Orthodox [Christian] believers." The band said
their performance was not aimed at insulting believers' feelings.
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