The Russian Orthodox Church does not exclude the possibility of a meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Alexis II, and has spelt out the conditions that could make it possible. Mikhail Dudkò, secretary of the Department for foreign relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, said he “hoped a great deal” in a resumption of the negotiations and in a clarification of the points of friction. Speaking on the margins of the recent conference on “Sapientia et scientia” held in Rome by the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Italy, Dudkò recalled the points of discord between the two Churches, represented especially by the plan, put on hold for the time being, to create a Greek-Catholic patriarchate in the Ukraine, ardently desired by the local community but strongly opposed by the Patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople. “I believe said Dudkò that the meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Alexis II should not become a meeting of protocol but should crown a process of very serious negotiation. If negotiations take place, the meeting will be possible”. Today there is a further tool to help forge diplomatic relations between the two sister Churches: it is represented by the bilateral commission established on the occasion of the recent visit to Moscow by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. “I hope a lot from it said Dudkò . We work together with everyone, with Moslems, Buddhists, Jews: so the absence of any collaboration with the Catholic Church, which is the Church closest to us, is not normal”.
