Channels never interrupted” “

Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo left for Moscow on Wednesday 26 October. It’s his first visit to Russia since John Paul II entrusted to him the post of Vatican Secretary of Relations with States, in effect the “Foreign Minister” of the Holy See. Archbishop Lajolo is in Moscow for a “working visit” on the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov and it seems inevitable that the question of a possible journey of Benedict XVI to Russia will crop up. Apart from Lavrov, the archbishop will also meet members of the Duma (the lower chamber of Parliament) and Metropolitan Kirill, “foreign minister” of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow. From 28 to 30 October he will participate in a Eucharistic Congress in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow. According to the Russian Foreign Minister, the visit of the senior Vatican prelate forms part of the “continuation of the political dialogue” with the Kremlin which ”has assumed a permanent character since the establishing of diplomatic relations in 1990”. The visit will end with a solemn eucharistic celebration on Sunday 30 October. OPTIMISM DESPITE THE DIFFICULTIES. “We have to admit with truth and humility that relations between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church in Russia, which is the largest of the Churches within Orthodoxy, are characterized by reciprocal difficulties”. But “I would also like to recall that, even in the most difficult moments, the channel of communication between the Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow has never been closed”, declared Archbishop GIOVANNI LAJOLO, the Holy See’s Secretary of Relations with States, in an interview with the Russian press agency “Blagovest-Info” before leaving for Moscow, where he is due to meet his Russian counterpart, Metropolitan Kirill, head of the Department of External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow. Lajolo’s judgement of relations between the two Churches is realistic but imbued with optimism. “I am convinced – he said – that there are no insoluble problems, if we only let ourselves be guided by the Gospel”. Reviewing the ecumenical relations between the two Churches, the Vatican representative emphasized the “painful incapacity to formulate a common language to examine our differences and seek a solution to them. We cannot fail to ascertain a difference, for instance, in our way of evaluating people’s right to make their own confessional choice”. The allusion is to the accusation of proselytism that the Russian Orthodox Church has long made of the Catholic Church. In this regard, Lajolo says: “The Holy See asks not for privileges in favour of the Catholic Church, but respect everywhere for the right to religious freedom, at the individual and social level, as sanctioned by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other important international conventions, and the recognition of the equal dignity and equal liberty of the Catholic Church and its members in relation to other Christian confessions and other religions”. In his interview with the “Blagovest-Info” agency, Archbishop Lajolo wished, however, to give assurances that “the Catholic Church in Russia, together with the Pontifical Representation in Moscow, is in any case ready, as ever, to examine, together with the Orthodox Church, the causes and the occasions for the differences, and sometimes the misunderstandings, between us and seek to resolve them in a supernatural spirit”. And he recalled that a special mixed Commission had been set up for this purpose. THE POPE IN MOSCOW? The possibility of a journey of Benedict XVI to Moscow, however, still seems remote. “A visit of the Holy Father to the Russian Federation – said Lajolo – would represent a very significant and important ecumenical event. It would need, however, to be prepared with the greatest care”. “Assuming a mainly spiritual character – added Lajolo – it ought to represent a motive of joy and hope not only for Catholics, but for the whole of Russia, including the other Christian believers and the followers of other faiths. I don’t think the Holy Father Benedict XVI would make a visit that, instead of contributing to greater mutual understanding and concord especially in the Christian field, could be a source of tension and discontent. We pay that the Lord may soon mature the premises for such a visit”. DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS. Archbishop Lajolo will also be received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Lavrov. Hopes are being raised about the possible announcement by the two representatives of a decision to raise their respective representations to the full diplomatic rank of embassies. In this regard, in an interview with the Catholic periodical “Svet Evangelja”, Lajolo said: “It seems to me clear that the current status of reciprocal Representations in Moscow and in the Vatican does not correspond to the importance that the Holy See attributes to its own relations with the Government of Moscow, nor to the position that the Holy See – with its 174 Apostolic Nunciatures and over 20 Representations at international organizations – has in the world. I think that both sides should work towards the establishment of full diplomatic relations”.