Pope Francis and Polish Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki today discussed Ukraine and refugees in a 45-minute meeting at the Vatican.

The Holy Father received the President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference. A key point was how to aid some 2 million Ukrainian refugees who have fled the Russian invasion, with Poland being the primary destination. They also discussed those who illegally try to cross the Polish border from the side of Belarus.

During the meeting with the Holy Father, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki also touched upon the subject of the so-called “German synodal road”, to which, as the Pope himself noted, he has a great distance, seeing in it a turn towards Protestantization of the Church, which is often opposed by Protestants themselves.

While visiting the Vatican Radio, the Metropolitan of Poznań assured of Francis ‘great appreciation for Poles’ openness to accepting refugees from Ukraine, but also drew attention to the need for assistance in the long term, when their stay would be prolonged and become a certain nuisance. Archbishop Gądecki also noted that churches in Poland remain open to the celebration of the Eastern rite.

“When it comes to Greek Catholics, they remain part of the Catholic Church, so both services, listening to confessions in Ukrainian and liturgy, all this is possible and I trust that they will meet with kindness from Polish bishops and Polish parishes,” emphasized Archbishop Gądecki. “When it comes to the Orthodox Church, we have to be open here, that is, to enable the Orthodox to have liturgy in Ukrainian or Russian, knowing about the friction that exists between the Moscow Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. People who found themselves in Poland seem now much more open to Orthodoxy and the Greek Catholic faith than they used to be in Ukraine. From these conversations with the Orthodox and Ukrainian clergy, it appears that they suddenly see an openness that has not been there before,

According to the metropolitan of Poznań, Patriarch Bartholomew’s visit to Poland should clearly show that apart from Orthodoxy, which supports Russian intervention in Ukraine, there is Orthodoxy that sticks to the Gospel and is not on the “pot of the state”.

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