Russian Prelate Shipped to Brazil as Cocaine Confirmed in Car
The Pillar portal reports that Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), once considered a potential successor to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, was transferred by decree to the Russian Orthodox Eparchy of Argentina and South America on June 3, 2026 — the same day Czech police confirmed that a white substance found in his car on May 24 was cocaine. The 59-year-old prelate, who served as the Moscow Patriarchate’s chief ecumenical official from 2009 to 2022 and frequently met with “popes” Benedict XVI and Francis, was released without charge on May 26 but now faces the confirmation of narcotics in his vehicle. The Moscow Patriarchate expressed support for the bishop, and Russia’s foreign ministry criticized the detention. Hilarion himself claimed on Telegram that the substance was planted. This sordid episode is yet another confirmation that the structures occupying the Vatican have no monopoly on moral and institutional collapse — the conciliar sect’s ecumenical partners in schism are equally rotten to the core.

