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I find the cheering on the part of a handful of Russophobe Catholics for schism within the Orthodox Church to be in poor taste. Your claims regarding this being some kind of response to the various short comings, both real and imaginary, of the Moscow Patriarchate have already been addressed on related threads. But since you keep repeating this tripe, and at the risk of repeating myself, this has nothing to do with Putin and everything to do with the centuries old power struggle between Moscow and the EP. Bart is a liberal ecumenist in the mold of Pope Francis with a long history of waffling on issues like abortion, sodomy and female ordination. He has been repeatedly rebuked by the other local churches for his absurd (some have suggested heretical) claims to universal jurisdiction on behalf of his see. His phony council in Crete has been soundly rejected by the vast majority of the Orthodox world, for which he is still seething and blames Moscow. He has been roasted and openly condemned by the monks of Mt. Athos for his ecumenical affinity for various heretical entities. So I suppose I should not be surprised that he has become a favorite of some Catholics.

For the vast majority of the world’s Orthodox we have no interest in a patriarch with papal pretensions. If we want a liberal ecumenist pope we might just as well swim the Tiber and get the real thing. On which note I think we would be better off if Bart did just that. The sooner he kneels and kisses Francis’ ring the better off the Orthodox world will be.