A new page?” “

“The hope of turning over a fresh page and beginning anew”: with this declaration, issued on his arrival in Moscow, began the visit to Russia by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. It’s a visit that has aroused deep interest among the population and in the media, given the current difficulties in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. On the eve of the visit. The question of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the accusation of proselytism, the Holy See’s establishment of new structures of the Catholic Church in Russia: these are the “problems” that are hampering relations between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches. The Patriarchate of Moscow underlined them on two different occasions on the eve of Cardinal Kasper’s arrival in Russia. The first occasion was Patriarch Alexis II’s meeting with a group of British journalists, faithfully reported on the Patriarchate’s official website. Replying to a question, Alexis II reviewed the dialogue between Moscow and Rome. He spoke of the “policy of proselytism” being conducted by the Catholic Church in Russia and in other countries of the former Soviet Union; he referred to the intention of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholics to “persuade Rome to declare a Uniate Patriarchate in the Ukraine” and recalled the decision taken by the Vatican to raise into a diocese the apostolic administrations in Russia, without any prior consultation with the Patriarchate of Moscow. Speaking to the journalists, however, Alexis II also spoke of the “good relations” that the Russian Church has with some Catholic dioceses, monasteries and ecumenical centres and cited his personal bond of friendship with Cardinals Roger Etchegaray, Carlo Maria Martini and Basil Hume, the former archbishop of Westminster who died in 1999 and who worked tirelessly for Christian unity. On the day following the publication of the interview, the Patriachate issued a long document on the possibility of establishing a Greek-Catholic Patriarchate in the Ukraine. The document contains the transcripts of the replies – all negative – of 14 heads of local Orthodox Churches to any such hypothesis, including that of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who speaks of “an act hostile to the whole of Orthodoxy”, and that of the Primate of Alexandria, who calls it “an improper and unbrotherly decision”. Kasper’s advice to Catholics. The first public intervention of Cardinal WALTER KASPER in Russia was his participation in a conference held in the Catholic cathedral of Moscow, in the course of which he asked the Catholic clergy to beware of any attitude that might be interpreted as missionary by the Orthodox Church. “In so far as we recognise the Orthodox Church as a true Church and its sacraments as authentic, there cannot – he said – be any deliberate policy or strategy to evangelise Orthodox Christians”. In this regard, Kasper cited the ecumenical encyclical “Ut unum sint” to recall that “this document rejects what the Orthodox Church describes as uniatism and proselytism”. Also present at the conference was Father ALEXANDRE MARIE PIETRZYK, member of the Ecumenical Commission of the Russian Catholic Church. “The cardinal – he told SIR – asked us to examine our consciences, following the example of what the Pope did in the Jubilee year, and ask for forgiveness, as we do when we recite the “Our Father”. I think that the priests who work here do have good intentions. But a more suitable, more open, more cultural and theological ecumenical preparation needs to be given to them”. Prospects for the future. But what do Catholics expect of this visit? “I hope – replies Father Pietrzyk – that Kasper’s presence in Moscow may relieve Russian Catholics of the burden of accusations that have been made against us, ever since the apostolic administrations were raised into a diocese. The accusations against the Greek-Catholic Church in the Ukraine are also bringing strong pressure to bear on us”. “Our hope – he adds – is that this visit may help restore friendship between Orthodox and Catholics and that it may, if not solve, at least clarify many of the problems that make relations between us so difficult”. Msgr. NICOLAS VEYRVOLL, consultor of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, speaks of a “difficult ecumenical climate”, but he also has words of hope. “Even in its harshest documents – he told SIR – the Patriarchate of Moscow has always indicated the ways to overcome” the problems”. Veyrvoll also stresses the importance of giving the Catholic community in Russia a more suitable ecumenical formation and encourages the European Catholic communities to establish “relations of friendship and collaboration” with Orthodox communities, following the positive experiences made in this direction by the Italian dioceses of Padua and Trent.