At one point Francis said "The Patriarch cannot become Putin’s altar boy", in reference to Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church [1]. Maybe Franci

At one point Francis said "The Patriarch cannot become Putin’s altar boy", in reference to Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church [1]. Maybe Francis recognised that working to get Kirill to temper his support for Putin would be more effective than his own public condemnation, which might allow propagandists to whip up a Western vs. Orthodox religious frenzy to unify Russians behind Putin? [1] https://www.wn.catholic.org.nz/adw_welcom/pope-says-kirill-must-not-be-putins-altar-boy/ https://www.wn.catholic.org.nz/adw_welcom/pope-says-kirill-m...