Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) believes that the head of the RCC will show extreme caution in supporting the schismatics, if he comes to Ukraine.

The Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich), assessed the risks of the supposed visit of the head of the Vatican to Ukraine.

The Pope, one way or another, will have to communicate with the leaders of the OCU, who will try to enlist support for their project at the level of the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Vladyka told the First Independent channel.

Nevertheless, although the pontiff gets on very well with the OCU project enforcer, Patriarch Bartholomew, the official attitude of the Vatican to the support of the OCU is extremely cautious, the hierarch noted.

If, after a preliminary discussion, Pope Francis decides to openly recognize the structure of Epifaniy Dumenko, this, according to the Metropolitan, could frame a completely different interfaith situation not only in Ukraine but worldwide.

However, as the hierarch of the UOC emphasized, the strategic policy of the Vatican “is directed not for a year ahead and decades, but for centuries, therefore they tend to consider everything thoroughly.”

Another consequence of the pontiff’s visit to Ukraine may be a closer merger of the OCU with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. As the hierarch pointed out, some experts are talking about this. They also call this visit unlikely because of the fear of the head of the Vatican to jeopardize contacts with the Russian side.

Earlier, the UOJ published an analytical review of the consequences of a possible visit of the head of the RCC to Ukraine.