“Interest in the life of the Orthodox Church is very important for dialogue between our Churches”. It was said by Alexius II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, to the President of the Papal Council for the Unity of Christians, card. Walter Kasper, in a meeting in Moscow today. The news has been relayed by the Patriarchate of Moscow, stating that “the unofficial visit of the Catholic prelate aimed to make him familiarise with the life of the Russian Orthodox Church and Russia”. Kasper had actually just come back from his visits to the eparchies of Smolensk, Kazan’, Nizhny Novgorod and the convent of Diveyevo. The Patriarchate of Moscow said that Alexius II expressed “his firm belief in the need to further develop dialogue between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church, which relies on the positions of the two churches, which agree on many issues of the contemporary world”. They include “the sphere of morality, family and social relations, human rights and bioethics. Our dialogue – highlighted Alexius II – must lead to develop cooperation between Orthodox and Catholics for the defence of Christian moral values in the world”. Card. Kasper thanked the patriarch for the meeting and gave him a letter from Benedict XVI.

News by SIR

From 21 to 30 May the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity was on a visit to Russia on the invitation of Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk.

In one of the various engagements of the visit, officially devoted to “greater understanding of Russian Orthodox culture,” the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity met the head of the Russian Orthodox Church yesterday. With him he had the opportunity to talk about the new climate of “friendship and brotherhood” that between the two Churches as well as the problems that continue to fuel tensions between them.

For some Russia experts Cardinal Kasper was supposed to meet the Orthodox leader to jumpstart the Joint Orthodox-Catholic Theological Commission but apparently he failed to do so.

“The possibility in principle” of a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Aleksij II was confirmed, but the Russian Patriarch reiterated that such an event should be thoroughly prepared, and not just be “a photo-op.”

During the talks the two parties dealt with some of their problems like the “expansion of the Uniate Church” in the Ukraine as well as the rearing of children in Catholic-run orphanages in Russia. Similarly both sides expressed concern over the Ravenna incident of October 2007 at the session of the Joint Orthodox-Catholic Theological Commission.

At that time representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate left the meeting’s plenary session because they opposed the presence of delegates from the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church set up in 1996 by the Constantinople Patriarchate in what Moscow considers its own canonical territory.

Patriarch Aleksij did not mince words about what the Statement that came out of the Ravenna meeting.

“The problem is not only that a statement was approved without our participation but the way it was done confers upon Constantinople a status like that of the Vatican for Catholics.”

Anonymous sources noted that for the Russian patriarch “Catholic-Orthodox dialogue cannot move forward without the participation of the largest Orthodox Church.”

News by Asia News