Orthodox Archbishop to Francis: "Imitate Ratzinger!"

Francis has been travelling to Cyprus and Greece from Thursday to Monday. The Cypriotic Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II told him that the local Orthodox Church was being martyred by the Turks. Chrysostomos spoke of a holy war, of cultural destruction, of the suffering Greeks and of the "barbarism" of settlers imported from the hinterland of Anatolia into Cyprus. Chrysostomos asked Francis to help and to imitate Pope Benedict. The latter negotiated with Ankara with the help of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and obtained the return of 500 archaeological artefacts found in the Turkish part of Cyprus since 1974.

A politician knows neither truth nor tradition

As expected, Francis reacted evasively to the archbishop’s complaint. He ignored the Turkish question and said that prejudices between Catholics and Orthodox had to be reduced to find a way of reconciliation and communion. Differences are not irreconcilable he explained, adding that traditions in the plural and with a lowercase "t" must not prevail over Tradition with a capitalised “t". The latter is an empty construct often quoted by anti-traditional circles whose aim is to destroy Catholic tradition.

Mockery? Martyred Cyprus needs more than words

Even more wishy-washy was the secularised text Francis left in the Golden Book of Honour at the Orthodox Episcopal See of Cyprus. Quote: "Thank you for talking about dialogue. We must always walk the path of dialogue, a tiring, patient, and safe path. A path of courage. Parrhesia and patience." One would have expected a more pious text from a pope. In Francis’ Vatican, there is no “dialogue” whatsoever.

"Novelty" for the sake of "novelty"

Francis told the Cypriot bishops and priests that they should be a Church that does not allow itself to be upset by “change.” “Novelty” should be received with a calm attitude. “Change” and “novelty” are two other words often used in heterodox circles as synonyms for "heresy".

"Pope is a heretic"

There have been sharp protests against Francis in Cyprus. Publicly displayed posters declared in different languages: "Pope, go home," "The Pope is a persona non grata," or: "The Pope is both a schismatic and a heretic."

Total tearjerker

Francis’ Sunday visit to a camp of illegal immigrants on Lesbos was staged as a tear-jerker occasion. Francis sought close body contact without covid masks, though he otherwise upholds covid orthodoxy with much rigorism. Francis said, "I am here to see your faces and look into your eyes. Eyes full of fear and expectation, eyes that have seen violence and poverty, eyes that are streaked with too many tears." However, the cause of this suffering are unscrupulous human traffickers who smuggle into Europe those who can pay their enormous fees.