Rome, 25 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Pope Francis has criticized Ukraine's ban on the country's Russia-linked Orthodox Church, in a sign of a growing rift between Kiev and the Vatican.

"No Christian church may be abolished directly or indirectly. The churches must not be touched," the pontiff said in his Sunday prayers, condemning a law recently passed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine says the ban is justified because the Moscow Patriarchate supports the Russian war of aggression.

The pope told tens of thousands of believers in St Peter's Square that "one does not commit evil by praying. If someone does something evil to his people, he is guilty. But he can't have done anything bad by praying."

Kiev has previously accused the pope of taking sides with Russia, a charge the Vatican rejects.

For a long time, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church set the tone in Ukraine's complex church landscape. It belonged to the Moscow Patriarchate until 2022, but after the Russian invasion it officially cut its ties to Moscow and condemned the war.

Nevertheless, Kiev accuses it of justifying Russian crimes against its own people and spreading Russian propaganda. An estimated 3 million worshippers are affected by the ban.

MIA file photo