Pope, patriarch seek dialogue, peace in Ukraine
ISTANBUL (AP) -- Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians have called for peace in Ukraine and for all sides to pursue dialogue based on international law to resolve the conflict.
Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I issued a joint declaration Sunday at the end of a lengthy liturgy to mark the feast of St. Andrew, an important feast in the Orthodox Church. The celebration was the main reason for Francis' three-day visit to Turkey.
In the statement, the two Christian leaders said they were praying for peace in Ukraine "while we call upon all parties involved to pursue the path of dialogue and of respect for international law in order to bring an end to the conflict and allow all Ukrainians to live in harmony."
From "Putin’s Anti-Gay Tirade Ends Pas De Deux With Merkel," by Bojan Pancevski in "The Sunday Times":
He had annexed Crimea and sent his forces into eastern Ukraine, but the moment when Angela Merkel finally became convinced that there could be no reconciliation with Vladimir Putin was when she was treated to his hardline views on gay rights.
The German chancellor was deep in one of the 40 conversations she has had with the Russian president over the past year — more than the combined total with David Cameron, François Hollande and Barack Obama — when he began to rail against the “decadence” of the West.
Nothing exemplified this “decay of values” more than the West’s promotion of gay rights, Putin told her.
It was then, said sources close to Merkel, that she realised Europe and America should abandon all hope of finding a common language with the Kremlin and instead should adopt a policy of Cold War-style containment.