Pope Francis abdicates?

– He has been using a wheelchair for several months and has health problems. When he announced his intention to appoint new cardinals, many said that this August consistory, the assembly of cardinals, could be an excuse to declare his abdication. This, however, did not happen.

I believe that if the pope is affected by a specific event, it will be related to his health, and not to the general situation in the Church and in the world.

According to Fr. The abdication of the owl can be permanently in accordance with the new norms of the Church. – The Pope has repeatedly said that this is something that should be codified in Church law. He even took action, so in a way, he’s preparing us for it somehow. Certain ecclesiastical perspectives have also changed. Once upon a time, abdication seemed unthinkable. Benedict XVI showed that you can give up when, for example, you come to the conclusion that the enormity of certain problems and issues is so overwhelming that you have to hand over power to someone else.

Francis and the War in Ukraine

Speculation about Francis’s resignation intensifies as criticism of him sharpens. The pope has repeatedly shocked the public with his statements about the war in Ukraine and his passive attitude to the aggressive policy of Vladimir Putin. A few weeks ago he even said it was ‘NATO barking at Russia’s door’ and recently lamented the death of Putin propagandist Daria Dugin, who died in a bombing in Moscow, with words moving.

– We are not able to explain it unequivocally – admits Fr. Kazimierz Sowa. – I have a problem when the pope utters words that are not so much incomprehensible to me as a simple misapprehension of the reality beyond our eastern border. I have heard several times: “You have to understand that the pope has a different sensibility. For example, the war in Ukraine is literally “behind the border” for us, and from the perspective of the whole universal Church, it is one of the few conflicts that the Pope has to face.

If one day the possibility arises of a pope coming to Moscow, it seems to me that it will be on Putin’s terms, not on the pope’s terms. I don’t know if Franciszek should go then

– The Pope has a certain personal conviction, an interior spirit of dialogue and reconciliation with the Orthodox Church, at all costs. Until recently, the symbolism of this Church was more Moscow than Constantinople. The pope is also trying to protect Catholics in Russia with these words. He is aware that a very radical criticism of Putin could even result in the signing of a decree during the day which would deprive foreigners, including bishops, of the right to perform spiritual service. This is a problem that the Vatican sees, and that we, perhaps, do not see so acutely.

Cyril a Kremlin official?

Pr. Kazimierz Sowa has no doubt that the Orthodox Church in Russia is now a tool in the hands of Vladimir Putin. – Christianity in Russia is treated in a very instrumental way. The Orthodox Church, the Russian Church under the leadership of Putin’s colleague from the same formation, during the time of the USSR, is often caricatured in its attitude. I have had the opportunity to talk to young Orthodox Christians, mainly from Moscow, and they say that they are often ashamed of what Patriarch Cyril says.

– Cyril is a Kremlin official and fulfills its policy. There is a philosophical tendency represented by Aleksander Dugin, who says that Russia, and in particular Putin, is the so-called catechon. It is in ancient Christian theology that it is the representative of secular authority who holds back the coming of the Antichrist. That is to say, it prepares the world for better times, for the parousia, but retains the antichrist in his evil who must reign and destroy the good.

– Orthodox Russians say: Russia and Putin are a contemporary catechin who defends Russia and the Orthodox against the Antichrist. After all, they call themselves true Christians. But who is he defending himself against? It does not protect against corruption, wickedness and theft. It does not protect against drunkenness and a number of negative phenomena in Russia. It is to defend against the “rotten West”.

Prof. Kazimierz Sowa – Polish Catholic priest, journalist, publicist, former director of Religia.tv. In 2021, at his own request, he moved permanently from the Archdiocese of Krakow to Warsaw, becoming resident in Warsaw.