Pope Francis' recent endorsement of same-sex civil partnerships has led Roman Silantyev, the leader of the Orthodox Church’s World Russian People’s Council, to predict that a large number of Catholics will convert to Orthodox Christianity or Protestantism. He accounts this to the fact that the Orthodox Church "doesn't compromise" on its conservative values. It seems unlikely that large scale conversion will occur, but it also seems equally unlikely that the Pope's support of the LGBT community will lead to any change in the Orthodox Church's stance on same-sex partnerships, which they currently strongly condemn.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus had his passport canceled, likely due to his criticism of the Belarusian government. This violates the Constitution of Belarus and could lead to an attempt to weaken or scapegoat minority religions in the region.
