ECUMENISM
Visiting Rome for the consecration of the first Russian Orthodox church in the capital dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the head of the department of the Patriarchate of Moscow for external ecclesiastical relations, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, met Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday 18 May. At a press conference held at the Russian Embassy in Rome on the following day, the Metropolitan told journalists that Benedict XVI had made some “very profound and important remarks concerning the common prospects of work” between the two Churches. The audience – held in Italian with the help of an interpreter – lasted 45 minutes. “The Pope’s position on “dialogue”, continued the number two of the Patriarchate, is “exactly the same as that of the Patriarch of Moscow Alexei II”. The main themes on which Orthodox and Catholics are agreed include, not least, “the theme of human morality” and “the common will to try to promote the Christian roots in Europe”. “The historic period in which Europe has decided to ignore and not recognise its Christian roots is one in which the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church must work together”, said Kirill. Other questions that are at the centre of common action and thought are the defence of the family and human life. Kirill then said he was “very happy” about his meeting with Benedict XVI due to the fact that their points of view coincided on many points. Questioned about a possible meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow, the Metropolitan replied: “As we all know, the possibility of such a meeting has never been rejected, neither by Pope John Paul II, nor by Benedict XVI, nor by Patriarch Alexei II”. “But it has been emphasized on both sides that if such a meeting were to take place, it would have to be well prepared”. This preparation concerns “the content of the meeting” and to this end it was first necessary to “solve come specific problems”. Satisfaction for the audience in Rome was also expressed by the general secretary of the Russian Bishops’ Conference, Monsignor Igor Kovalensky who remarked during an interview on the radio station “ Ekho Moskvy” : “It was a very important event. I must say that the relations between the two churches have greatly improved in recent years and this trend has been shown particularly clearly over the past year”.
