In a little under two decades, Russia went from officially avoiding religion to having a religious leader who has his own TV show.
Kirill, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, was recently enthroned as the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia.
He was dubbed the most likely successor of the late Patriarch Aleksiy II following his death. He maintained a high-visibility profile for several decades, being in charge of the Church’s Department of External Relations (Church-speak for PR).
His installation received a lot of attention, even though most mass media as always managed to present Orthodox Christianity as the most important religion in Russia. (Russia actually has the largest Muslim population in Europe, but no one pays attention to that fact, given that the state leaders are all Orthodox. Oh, and there are a lot of other religions represented in Russia, but I am guessing they are too far removed from Moscow and St. Petersburg to be even considered).
The new patriarch is an alleged KGB agent (well, who isn’t), a businessman (he had a privilege of duty-free import of cigarettes in Russia in the 1990’s), and a show man. Since 1994, he has hosted the weekly Saturday morning show entitled “The Pastor’s Word.” He recently announced he planned on keeping it. Can you think of any other religious leaders who have one of their own? I can’t.