NNA - The U.K. government announced on Thursday that it is imposing sanctions on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office said in a June 16 statement that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was being “sanctioned for his support and endorsement of Putin’s war.”

The announcement came after European Union member states failed to agree on whether Patriarch Kirill should face sanctions after his name was proposed by the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU. Hungary reportedly objected to his inclusion.

The U.K. decision was welcomed by Andrii Yurash, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See.

Numerous influential Russian citizens have been added to the U.K. sanctions list since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. The sanctions have included asset freezes and bans on travel to the U.K.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “Today we are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of Putin’s war who have brought untold suffering to Ukraine, including the forced transfer and adoption of children.”

“We will not tire of defending freedom and democracy, and keeping up the pressure on Putin, until Ukraine succeeds.”

The Russian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church with an estimated 150 million members, accounting for more than half of the world’s Orthodox Christians.

The Ukraine war has strained the Moscow Patriarchate’s relations with other Eastern Orthodox Churches.

It has also prompted Catholic bishops across Europe to urge Kirill to denounce the invasion. They include Poland’s Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, Germany’s Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Luxembourg’s Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, and the Irish bishops.

In an interview published on May 3, Pope Francis said he had expressed concern about Patriarch Kirill’s stance on the war during a video conference call on March 16.

The pope added that he and Kirill had called off a meeting scheduled for June 14 in Jerusalem, saying “we agreed that it could send the wrong message.”—CNA 

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