The Churches “are called to work together in the name of peace. But this goal will not be achieved if the Orthodox and the Greek Catholics do not strive to overcome their historical enmity”, said Metropolitan Hilarion, the number two man in the Moscow Patriarchate, as he took the floor at a conference in Fribourg yesterday, marking one year since the meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill in Cuba. “I hope – Metropolitan Hilarion said – that the appeal made by the two Primates to put an end to the bloodshed in Ukraine is listened to by the parties to the conflict and that a stable peace is reached in the country in which Orthodox and Catholics live side by side. This appeal is especially timely following the escalation of tensions in Ukraine, where military operations have recently resumed and, again, are causing casualties among civilians”. According to the Moscow Patriarchate, however, the Ukrainian issue is linked to the “crucial issue” of the Greek Catholics. As Metropolitan Hilarion stated in Fribourg yesterday: “For the Orthodox, the declaration issued for the first time at the highest level in Havana, according to which uniatism is not a method for achieving unity between the Churches and any form of proselytism in Catholic-Orthodox relations is unacceptable, was an important step forward to restore trust”. “However – he added – we know that Pope Francis’ meeting with Patriarch Kirill was met with irritation by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church”. And he concluded: “Once again, despite the agreements reached through great efforts at the highest level between the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches, uniatism proves to be a force sowing enmity and hatred by systematically and consistently impeding a reconciliation between East and West. It is for this reason that we deem it necessary to continue the discussion on uniatism, already begun but not yet completed in the theological dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, so as to take it to its logical conclusion”.