At the Church and Pandemic conference in Moscow, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis in Havana, speakers noted the growth of atheistic sentiment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said that stereotypes of atheistic propaganda, which hinder the work of the church, are being revived in society due to the pandemic. Cardinal Kurt Koch, chairman of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, believes that the pandemic has caused many people on the planet to question the existence of God.
“The terrible suffering and death of so many people raises the question of the existence of God with much more force than any theory of philosophy of enlightenment,” he said. In his opinion, the shock from the pandemic is comparable to the impression of the great earthquake in Lisbon in 1755, which killed about 100 thousand people. 'At that time, this event called into question many previous beliefs <...>, doubts arose especially about the goodness and omnipotence of God,' the cardinal said. He recalled the expression that appeared at that time 'suffering is the rock of atheism.'
Koch stressed that the pandemic has affected church life at a basic level, limiting the ability of clerics to worship. In this regard, he doubted that all parishioners would return to churches after the restrictions were lifted.
