Sister Churches ” “

The Christians of Europe are witnessing the development of a kind of “cold war” between the Vatican and the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow. The elevation of the Catholic apostolic administrations in Russia to the rank of ordinary dioceses has aroused anger among the Patriarchate’s hierarchy. The planned visit of Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for the Unity of Christians, to Moscow has been cancelled, and the prospect of a possible apostolic journey of John Paul II to Russia seems to have faded. In the view of the Patriarchate’s leaders – headed by Patriarch Alexis II – the Vatican’s recent decision corresponds to a presumed Catholic “design” to “proseletyze” to achieve its old dream of the “conversion of Russia”. In the view of the authorities of the Vatican – and of the exponents of the Catholic Church in Russia – on the other hand, the Vatican’s decision is merely an act of “normal administration” which corresponds, besides, to the right of freedom of religion that ought to enjoyed not only by individuals but also by religious communities. Will it be possible to bridge the gap between these two opposing conceptions that pose an obstacle to the progress of the ecumenical relations between Rome and Moscow? Historically the Russian Orthodox Church has always nourished a strong feeling of distrust for the Catholic Church. Even in the new context of regained freedom, after the calvary of the atheist persecution, this feeling is still very strong. Some ingenuous remarks on the part of the Catholic Church, some attempt of “crusade” to conquer the souls of former atheists, may perhaps have contributed to foment this feeling. But both the Vatican and the Russian Catholic bishops have always made it known with great clarity that the Catholic Church has neither the will nor the means to engage in “proselytism”. And the figures confirm this: at the beginning of the 1920s there were 1,650,000 Catholics in the recently created Soviet Russia. Today they number around 1,300,000. The parishes and the Catholic communities in Russia do no more that seek to bring back to the faith persons in whose family a distant memory of belonging to the Catholic Church is still kept alive. And the conversion of agnostic intellectuals to the Catholic Church in Russia is not an unusual phenomenon in the country’s history; anyone interested in the history of Russia in the nineteenth century will find a couple of prominent names among these converts. What can be done in practice? It will be of great importance for all those Catholic institutions that have good relations with the Russian Orthodox Church to try to intensify their contacts still further. For example, excellent relations exist between various Italian dioceses – Milan, Bologna, Trent – and the Patriarchate of Moscow. The same may be said of the Foundation “Pro Oriente” in Vienna, founded by Cardinal Franz König at the time of Vatican Council II and now headed by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and Austrian Caritas. The delicate threads of reciprocal understanding, practical collaboration, and a willingness to listen to the voice “of the other”, and to take it seriously, must not be broken. All this in the hope that the two sister Churches may one day sit at a “round table” together to discuss and remove all the obstacles that still exist on the highroad that leads to visible unity.