✣Orthodox world faces split
What happened? Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople sent two envoys to Ukraine to prepare for the granting of “autocephaly” to the country’s Orthodox Christians. This would make them independent from Moscow. Russia’s Metropolitan Hilarion said Constantinople was waging “war” against the unity of the Orthodox Church. If autocephaly went ahead, he said, Moscow would “break off communion” from Constantinople – and the ancient see would forfeit its right to claim leadership over the Orthodox world.What commentators are saying
"For the massive Russian Orthodox Church, everything begins in Kiev,” wrote Terry Mattingly at his GetReligion blog. With the mass baptism of Kiev’s residents in AD 988, the Ukrainian capital was where the Orthodox faith “entered the world of the Slavs”.
“The presence of the great Kiev Pechersk Lavra – a monastery founded in 1051 – only raises the stakes in this struggle for control of holy ground,” he wrote.
He noted that mainstream media reports overestimated the power of Patriarch Bartholomew. “The ecumenical patriarch is not the pope of Rome,” he wrote. “In Orthodoxy, there is no one man who can push the tomos of autocephaly button and have that decision accepted at all Orthodox altars. The Orthodox often leave things messy until the faith’s churches around the world can work out the details.”
Rod Dreher, writing at the American Conservative, said that if Patriarch Bartholomew did press ahead with autocephaly for Ukraine, a schism would be almost inevitable – and it would not just affect Moscow and Constantinople. “World Orthodoxy will likely split along lines of those faithful to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and those who align with Russia,” Dreher wrote. “It will be a severe wound to the body of Orthodoxy, and highlights Orthodoxy’s greatest weakness: its lack of unity.”
Dreher said that both Constantinople and Moscow were guilty of ugly politics. “Nobody’s hands are spiritually clean.”
✣US business leaders suspend Vatican donation
What happened? A group of Catholic business leaders suspended their annual donation to the Holy See, citing concerns over financial accountability. The group, Legatus, comprises around 5,000 business executives. Its annual tithe this year, which was reported to be $820,000 (£625,000), is being delayed while they wait for the Holy See to address their concerns.Why was it under-reported
The abuse crisis has dominated attention in recent weeks. The Legatus story may seem minor in comparison, but it reflects a wider trend: a growing unease among the Vatican’s American benefactors. This was clear back in February, when controversy broke out among members of the Papal Foundation, a US-based philanthropic group. Pope Francis reportedly requested $25m (£19m) to go to a scandal-hit Rome hospital. In the end only half the requested donation was given after strong criticism that it did not
follow due process.
What will happen next?
Declining donations from the United States could spell trouble for the Vatican’s finances. In 2013 the Holy See’s income was $315 million. About a third of this comes from America. It’s not a huge amount, given that the German Church has an income of several billion. It is used to cover the running costs of Vatican City as well as providing donations around the world. The tithe from Legatus would be missed. It’s likely Vatican officials will want to talk to its chairman, Tom Monaghan, very soon.
✣The week ahead
Pope Francis is making a four-day trip to the former Soviet states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. He will be visiting two major Marian shrines. One is at Aglona in Latvia, where hundreds of thousands of Catholics flock on the Feast of the Assumption. The other is a chapel in a city gate in Vilnius, Lithuania, which houses a painting of Mary that is said to have saved the city.Cardinal Vincent Nichols will speak at a conference alongside Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Orthodox Archbishop Angaelos on Monday. The event, in Derbyshire, is organised by Churches Together in England.
Today, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, initiatives responding to the sex abuse crisis are taking place across the US. Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, is undertaking a 24-hour fast. A seven-hour prayer vigil is planned at Philadelphia’s cathedral. Author Leah Libresco, meanwhile, is asking Catholics to phone their bishop to press them on the subject.
