The Vatican and the Patriarchate of Moscow have underlined “the importance of overcoming the problems that persist in relations between the two Churches”, reports the Russian “Ria Novosti” press agency of the Department of External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, following the meeting held in the Vatican between Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad and Pope Benedict XVI. Metropolitan Kirill was in Rome as head of the official delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church that participated in the ceremony of enthronement of Benedict XVI. “Pope Benedict XVI said Vsevolod Tchapline, assistant director of the Department of External Relations, in a briefing to the Ria Novosti agency is a serious man who is capable of conducting a concrete dialogue with the Orthodox Church. We hope that this dialogue will develop under this new Pontiff”. “We live added the representative of the Patriarchate of Moscow in an age full of hope. For many, it is a period in which a new page is about to be opened in relations between our two Churches, a period that offers us the chance to improve the relations between Orthodox and Catholic Christians”. The exponent of the Patriarchate added that this new phase of dialogue could be opened “on condition that everything be done to re-establish trust” between the two Churches. In this regard, according to Vsevolod Tchapline, the Patriarchate of Moscow “greatly” appreciated the declaration that “the Roman Catholic Church does not propose to conduct missionary activities among Orthodox believers”.
