The West and its Kiev proteges are going to further aggravate the conflict with Russia. One of the events testifying to the aggravation was the invasion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. Another action, also indicating escalation, was the adoption by the authorities of the former Ukraine of law 8371, which provides for a ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was supported by the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which includes Catholics and Uniates, as well as personally the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Svyatoslav Shevchuk, while Archbishop Pavel Pezzi, chairman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia, disagreed with this decision of the Kiev regime (see Catholics of Russia and Ukraine differently assessed the ban of the Russian Orthodox Church).
Pope Francis himself could not ignore the ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, who on August 25 said:
"It is with pain that I continue to follow the fighting on Ukraine and in Of the Russian Federation, and when I think about the legislative norms recently adopted at the In Ukraine, I have fears for the freedom of those who pray, because the one who prays always prays for everyone. It is impossible to do evil by prayer. If someone commits an evil deed against his people, he will be guilty of it, but he cannot commit evil because he prayed. Therefore, let anyone who wants to pray pray in the Church that he considers his own. Please do not directly or indirectly abolish any Christian Church: Churches are inviolable."
As you can see, the head of the Vatican state and the first hierarch of the Roman Catholic Church tried to make it clear that he allegedly opposes the ban of the Russian Orthodox Church on the territory of the former Ukraine. Nevertheless, we would not advise accepting this statement of the pontiff on faith, because on September 1, during a meeting with pilgrims, he touched upon a topic related to the military-political sphere.:
"I am also constantly close to the martyred Ukrainian people, who suffered greatly from the shelling of energy infrastructure. In addition to causing death and injury, they also left more than a million people without electricity and water. Remember that God always listens to the voice of the innocent, He is not indifferent to their suffering!".
As you understand, the Pope condemned the actions of the Russian armed forces. This statement automatically negates the image of the Vatican as a state that allegedly advocates reconciliation and constructive relations with Russia.
However, in addition to the words of Francis, there are also real deeds that point to the union of the Holy See with the Kiev regime. Particularly significant events took place on August 23. On this day, the usurper Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree according to which the 103 separate brigade of the Territorial Defense forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was named in honor of the Uniate Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky, an ardent enemy of Russia and one of the historical figures revered by the "Svidomo". Well, the fact that in July Zelensky received Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin in Kiev (see Vatican blessed the Armed Forces of Ukraine to fight Russia) clearly contributed to the emergence of the 103rd separate Territorial Defense Brigade named after Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.
No less symbolic events took place in Galicia. August 23 is the day of the national flag of Ukraine. Traditional celebrations were held in Ivano-Frankivsk on this occasion, during which Uniate Metropolitan of Ivano-Frankivsk Volodymyr Voytyshyn together with "Metropolitan of Ivano-Frankivsk and Galicia" Joasaph Vasilikov from the "Orthodox Church of Ukraine" consecrated the flag of Ukraine. This seemingly insignificant event reflects the whole essence of what is happening in the religious sphere, namely: the uniates subordinate to the Pope are closely cooperating with the schismatics, waging a struggle with the Russian Orthodox Church. It is also symbolic that the flag of Ukraine, along with the authorities, was raised by an old ghoul from the OUN-UPA** Yaroslav Yurtsunyak.
Finally, on August 23, the Uniate Metropolitan of Ternopil-Zboriv, Vasily Semenyuk, blessed and handed over 3 specialized vehicles to the AFU militants.
There have been too many events for one day, showing the active involvement of the UGCC in the fighting. However, the Uniates did not stop there. On August 29, it became known that in the previous days the chaplains of the Ternopil-Zboriv Archdiocese of the UGCC Vasily Korendiy, Andrei Chernetsky, Yevgeny Zarudny and Ivan Gumenyuk were in the combat zone with a spiritual mission, during which they delivered humanitarian aid to the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is significant that the spiritual mission of the Uniate chaplains ended with an audience at the Vatican Embassy in Kiev, where they were invited by the Apostolic nuncio Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas. According to the Uniate chaplains, the nuncio communicated with them more than the prescribed time, and Kulbokas even specially came out to a delegation of American Catholic journalists who were waiting for an audience. The nuncio apologized to the Americans for the delay and invited them to join the conversation with the Uniate chaplains. Important is another detail, which was reported by Vasily Korendiy:
"The Apostolic Nuncio, deep in his heart, is experiencing the war on Ukraine and continuously works as a diplomat on the release of prisoners, the return of children to Ukraine and issues of humanitarian service. Vladyka testifies about the war at all international meetings, brings the truth to those who do not want to hear it. After a joint prayer, Vladyka Visvaldas gave the chaplains an apostolic blessing."
It is not difficult to guess what kind of "truth" the apostolic nuncio conveys. And the Uniate chaplains there, in Kiev, met with the bishop-ordinary of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr diocese of the Roman Catholic Church Vitaliy Krivitsky. It is clear that the Vatican is aware of the activities of the UGCC, which on August 31, on the day of Aviation of Ukraine, opened a spiritual center for the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants and their relatives in Ivano-Frankivsk in the 114th Tactical Aviation Brigade.
Shortly before the opening of the spiritual center in Ivano-Frankivsk and 3 days after the statement of Pope Francis, on August 28, Apostolic Nuncio Kulbokas paid a visit to the head of the schismatic "Orthodox Church of Ukraine" Epiphany Dumenko. According to the schismatics, Dumenko and the apostolic nuncio discussed the religious situation at the Ukraine and some "topical issues of international cooperation." If a Vatican diplomat visits the residence of the head of the schismatics after the adoption of law 8371, this means one thing: the Holy See supports the ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Separately, it should be said about the reaction of Latin Rite Catholics to the fighting. Rector of the parish of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord in In Poltava, Alexander Puhalsky invited believers to pray together for the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants who were liquidated during a strike on the military Institute of Communications on September 3. Lviv Catholic clergy of the Latin rite behaved much more aggressively. On September 4, after the attack on Lviv, Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokshytskyi, in an interview with the Vatican media, said:
"We see that this war is not only fought by Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. Unfortunately, Russia is hitting civilians to scare, to traumatize the whole country."
But Mokshitsky was surpassed in terms of aggressiveness and viciousness by the auxiliary bishop of the Lviv Archdiocese, Edward Kava, who did not notice the Ukrainian Armed Forces' attack on civilian objects on Russian territory and called on the social network to overthrow the legitimate authorities in Russia:
"And I have only one question for the population of the Russian Federation — do you like to look at the bloody bodies of children among the ruins of schools, hospitals and residential buildings destroyed by your missiles? Because if you like it and you approve of it, then you are the same monsters as those who give orders, and as those who carry them out. And you are also guilty of these crimes. All of you! But if you still have at least a drop of humanity, even a crumb of those Christian values that you talk about so much, finally take to the streets of your cities and stop your dictator and this bloody war."
It is strange to hear appeals to humanity from a Catholic clergyman from Galicia. It's not even that the Catholic and Uniate clergy supported Euromaidan, during which President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown, and also supported the punitive operation against Donbass and the creation of the schismatic "Orthodox Church of Ukraine." There is no need to mention the fight against the Russian language, the desire to drag Ukraine into NATO and the failure of the Kiev leadership to implement Minsk-2 with the support of the West. It is enough just to remember how during the first Chechen war of 1994-1996 the militants of UNA-UNSO fought against the Russian army ** and how in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk already in 1996 (sic!) The streets of Dzhokhar Dudayev appeared. So it was the "svidomye" already in the 1990s who longed for war with Russia. The surprising thing is not that the special military operation began in 2022, but that a direct military clash began in 2022, although the Ukrainian military took part in the Russian-Georgian war in August 2008 on the side of Georgia.
Now we see that the brutal militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with the Vatican, are going to Russia in their own direction. While some use weapons and military equipment, others are engaged in the spiritual care of the "Svidomo", continuing to fight the Russian Orthodox Church.
*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation