VATICAN CITY, August 25. /TASS/. Pope Francis has expressed his support for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) following Ukraine’s ban on its activity in Ukraine.

"I continue to follow with sorrow the fighting in Ukraine and the Russian Federation. And in thinking about the laws recently adopted in Ukraine, I fear for the freedom of those who pray, because those who truly pray always pray for all. A person does not commit evil because of praying. If someone commits evil against his people, he will be guilty for it, but he cannot have committed evil because he prayed," he said after the traditional Sunday’s Angelus prayer.

"So let those who want to pray be allowed to pray in what they consider their Church. Please, let no Christian Church be abolished directly or indirectly. Churches are not to be touched!" the pontiff stressed.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill on Saturday called on the heads of Orthodox and other Christian Churches and international and religious organizations to defend the Ukrainian Orthodox Church following its ban.

On August 20, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) adopted in the second reading the bill "On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activity of Religious Organizations," which allows to ban the activity of any religious communities in Ukraine if they are "affiliated" with any religious organizations in Russia. The bill was signed into a law by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on August 24. It will come into force 30 days after its publication.

The bill banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was drafted at Zelesky’s request and passed by the Verkhovna Rada in the first reading in October 2023. It has not been put for the third reading for nearly a year out of fears that it would fail to score enough votes in parliament and would cause the West’s disapproval. However, on August 16, after the bill was amended and renamed, the Rada humanitarian and information policy recommended it be passed in the second reading.