10 years since the Havana meeting, or Does history teach us anything?

Alexey Rodionov | February 12, 2026

 

 

Exactly 10 years ago, on February 12, 2016, in the building of the José Martí International Airport in Havana, the capital of Cuba, a meeting took place between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis of Rome. I will not describe the meeting itself in detail, since this has already been done many times before me. I will note only a few points.

The first thing that catches the eye is the speed with which the decision about the meeting was made. It was announced by both sides on February 5, 2016. On that same day the final decision was made to hold it on February 12. The text of the declaration proposed for signing was agreed upon until late in the evening of February 10 and occupied 10 pages.

Second. This decision was made immediately after the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which took place from February 2 to 3, 2016, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, yet at the Council it was not discussed in any way, at least publicly. One can state with complete confidence that the act of Patriarch Kirill was non-conciliar and even anti-conciliar.

Third. Such a meeting quite obviously had a political, not a religious, background. Patriarch Kirill decided, by means of this meeting, to raise the status of the Kremlin and of Russia in general, sacrificing in the process clergy and laity who were anti-Catholic in their disposition. This is entirely logical, since Patriarch Kirill has always been a statist to the marrow of his bones. But I cannot help asking myself the question: did the Russian Church gain much from this meeting in the long term? And did it gain anything at all?

Fourth. The Havana Declaration signed 10 years ago cannot be called successful. It is a hastily prepared fruit of church diplomacy, which has no theological weight and still less any moral weight. At present no one even remembers this document, not to mention any kind of detailed analysis of it.

Fifth. Both such a hasty format of the meeting and the Havana Declaration itself quite predictably provoked noticeable criticism from conservative and right-radical circles in the Church. The most irreconcilable critics altogether ceased commemorating Patriarch Kirill and later left the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. I have already written about one of them, Zosima-Alexy Moroz. It is noteworthy that from the side of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia only Protopriest Vladimir Malchenko from Canada publicly contested this meeting.

[https://orthodoxmiscellany.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-bitter-fruits-of-ecumenism-in-life.html]

Sixth. In that same year another event took place, which some awaited with anticipation and others with apprehension — the Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete. And here Patriarch Kirill no longer dared to go against the conservative and right-radical circles in the Church. Quite noteworthy here is that friendship with the Vatican (or at least its illusion) proved for Patriarch Kirill more significant than pan-Orthodox unity. A little more than two years will pass, and Patriarch Bartholomew will finally bury this unity through the creation of the OCU.

 

Russian source: https://rocor-observer.livejournal.com/384067.html