CWN - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow says that "powerful forces" outside Russian Orthodox Church were opposed to his February 12 meeting with Pope Francis.
The Russian prelate, who is now visiting Brazil, told reporters there that "no one knew" about the negotiations to arrange a meeting with the Roman Pontiff. Those negotiations reportedly went on for months, but Patriarch Kirill said that only five people were briefed about them. "I am not going to name them," he added.
"There are powerful forces that did not really want it," the Patriarch explained. He indicated that he was not speaking of opposition within the Russian Orthodox hierarchy-- although he acknowledged that some prelates saw "some danger in the meeting." He did not identify the "powerful forces" that would have been more strenuously opposed.
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