http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/world/europe/pope-francis-georgia.html 2016-10-01 22:10:51 Pope Francis Navigates Orthodox Georgia’s Rocky Terrain The Georgian Orthodox Church was once hostile to the Vatican, and the former Soviet republic remains pulled between East and West. === TBILISI, Georgia — When Francis and his motorcade pulled out of the airport in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, on Friday, Mr. Isakadze and a few dozen other protesters were waiting with banners declaring, “The pope is a heretic” or “Antichrist!” When Francis visited a Catholic church later in the day, the protesters were there, too. Then on Saturday, Francis celebrated Mass at a soccer stadium — but only a few thousand people were in the stands, unusual even for a country with a small Catholic population. And while the In visiting Georgia, one of the world’s oldest Christian nations, Francis is confronted with the tricky geopolitical and religious terrain of a former Soviet land now pulled between East and West. The Georgian Orthodox Church, once hostile to the Vatican, is revered as a guardian of national identity even as the more conservative priests often look to Moscow and the much bigger At the official level, Francis has been warmly received, especially by Georgia’s government, which hopes that the pope’s visit will help remind the world that one-fifth of Georgian territory remains occupied by separatists armed and financed by Russia after a war in 2008. The ailing leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, also greeted Francis as “my dear brother” and issued a statement condemning the Orthodox priests who have criticized the pope’s visit. In an interview, Georgia’s prime minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, said the papal visit was “very important as Georgia gets closer to Europe and the West in general,” and he said he saw no reason for anyone to take umbrage at the pope’s presence. “I do not see any room for protest,” Mr. Kvirikashvili said. “We should be hospitable.” He noted that “Europe is our home culturally and historically.” Under criticism from some conservatives who say integrating with the West would force Georgia to accept gay marriage, Mr. Kvirikashvili’s government this year proposed amending the Constitution to rule out any possibility of same-sex unions one day becoming legal. The prime minister described the move, which failed, as a “political and marketing issue” to “pull our supporters away from fundamentalist or anti-Western groups” that want to block closer ties to Europe. Francis knew the trip could be bumpy. Politically, the government wants Georgia to join the Francis has pleased Georgian leaders by affirming the country’s “sovereign rights” and calling for adherence to international law, a veiled slap at Russia’s de facto control over the two breakaway regions. He also said refugees should be allowed to freely return to their homes. But at a time when he is also Georgians will go to the polls next Saturday for parliamentary elections. They feature a number of small but noisy, and mysteriously well-funded, political parties that deny pushing Russia’s agenda but embrace Moscow’s view that the United States and the European Union threaten traditional morality by advocating protection for the rights of sexual minorities. Independent from the Moscow church hierarchy, the One senior priest in Georgia described Russian tanks that invaded his country in August 2008 as “heavenly pincers to block Georgia’s drive toward the West.” The remark reflected the views of a minority fringe and stirred outrage. But even Patriarch Ilia, who is viewed as more pro-Western than many of his colleagues, described President This has sometimes created differing priorities between the Georgian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Russian church, and the Georgian government, which broke off diplomatic relations with Moscow after the 2008 war. It also speaks to a broader trend in the Christian Orthodox world, where many churches see themselves as bulwarks against Western influence even as their governments want to draw closer to the West. “Within the Orthodox world, the tension is very real everywhere,” said Aristotle Papanikolaou, a director of the Georgia’s foreign minister, Mikheil Janelidze, dismissed the anti-papists as a “very minority cause” that did not reflect the position of the Georgian church or the government, both of which he said embraced integration with the West. Georgia, he added, wants to become “a real European state,” and “this is definitely supported by the patriarch.” Before the pope’s arrival, Patriarch Ilia issued a formal statement saying it would be “totally unacceptable” for anyone to disrupt a visit intended to help heal the rift between the Eastern and Western branches of Christendom dating to the 11th century. But Mr. Isakadze and other protesters did not heed that call. The father of eight children and a leader in the archconservative Union of Orthodox Parents, Mr. Isakadze said Orthodox Christians needed to stand together against a Catholicism he claimed was bent on expansion. He also complained that Francis had gone soft on homosexuality and was too socially liberal. But speaking on Saturday afternoon to a group of Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople, Francis repeated his position defending traditional marriage between a man and a woman. “Today, there is a global war to destroy marriage,” he said. He also told the audience that Orthodox Christians and Catholics were “brothers and sisters” and that Catholics should not try to convert them. “You must never proselytize the Orthodox,” he said.