OC

From media reports, it became known that on March 21, 2021, during the Divine Liturgy at the St. George Cathedral in Istanbul, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, co-served by the hierarchs of the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Alexandria, as well as a representative of one of the schismatic communities of Ukraine, who did not have canonical consecration, headed the ordination of Metropolitan Andreas confirmed by the publication of the corresponding photographs.

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The Russian Orthodox Church is seeking to deter its followers from carrying out their own exorcisms following a series of deaths and injuries that have cast a spotlight on the religious ritual.  --  Metropolitan Hilarion, who heads the Moscow Patriarchate's department of external relations, said that the church is drawing up a document that would set out rules for the procedure.
The church had warned against people carrying out exorcisms, which led to the deaths of at least two people in Russia in 2019, including a nine-year-old boy who had been gagged and whipped by his father in Yekaterinburg.

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In a Sunday Mass sermon, Lebanon’s top Christian leader, Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, expressed his stance on recent calls for a forensic audit and also warned that obstruction of a government formation could lead to exploitation and domination of struggling Lebanese people.

An interview of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, to RIA Novosti

(Peter Anderson) On April 6, RIA Novosti posted an interview with Metropolitan Hilarion.  (link)  On the same day, the DECR of the Moscow Patriarchate posted the interview both in Russian and English. (link) (English)   Usually, there is a delay on the DECR website for an English translation, but not this time.  The caption of the interview is entitled: “Metropolitan Hilarion: Summit of the heads of Churches is possible in foreseeable future.”  The first question in the interview is whether Patriarch Theophilos or any other Church leader was planning another meeting of the kind of the Amman summit this year.  The answer provided by Metropolitan Hilarion is as follows:

ROME – One month after Pope Francis’s historic visit to Iraq, one of the country’s top Catholic prelates has outlined his vision for the country going forward, making the bold suggestion of enforcing a stricter separation between religion and the state.

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JERUSALEM – On Friday, April 2, 2021, His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the Passion of the Lord service at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.

By Lisa Zengarini

NNA - Pope Francis sent Thursday a congratulatory letter to Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Boutros al-Rahi, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his election as Patriarch of the Antioch and the Maronite community.   --    Papal Ambassador to Lebanon, Archbishop Joseph Spiteri, read out the letter following the ceremonial Mass presided over by the Patriarch marking the occasion in Bkirki today, in presence of the Maronite Church bishops and clerics.

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In a letter written on behalf of Pope Francis by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, bishops throughout the world are asked to avoid looking the other way when faced with the situations of so many brothers and sisters in times of need and difficulty. This year especially, there is need for generosity in the collection ‘pro Terra Sancta’, as the Holy Land has suffered, both economically and socially, particularly harsh effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The following is the English text of the letter.

In Najaf on Saturday, 6 March, the Holy Father visited for some 45 minutes with Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Husayni Al-Sistani. Francis took the opportunity to stress the importance of cooperation and friendship between religious communities, and to thank Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani for speaking up — together with the Shiite community — in defence of those most vulnerable and persecuted amid the violence and great