A meeting of the mixed workgroup, given the task of trying to resolve the problems that have arisen in relations between the Russian Orthodox and Catholic Churches, was held at the Patriarchate of Moscow on 28 December. The co-chairmen of the group are Monsignor Igor Kovalevsky, for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Russia, and Arch-priest Vsevolod Chaplin for the Patriarchate. The members of the group visited the “Don Bosco” orphanage at Fili, near Moscow, and spoke with its staff. “The participants says a communiqué put out by the Orthodox Church – agreed that the children baptized in the Orthodox Church or with an Orthodox education who are cared for in Catholic orphanages should attend Orthodox liturgical services and be given an Orthodox education. The Orthodox Church for its part expressed its willingness to foster this process”. The participants at the meeting also decided to improve the exchange of information between the two Churches and to intensify collaboration to “reach common positions on important problems of society especially in defence of Christian moral values when these are denied”. In a briefing to journalists on 30 December. Patriarch Alexis II spoke once again of the “conditions” that could favour a meeting between him and Pope Benedict XVI. Such a meeting he underlined should mark the final stage of a series of efforts to be made to solve the disagreements that still keep the two Churches apart. “It’s our opinion said the Patriarch that such a meeting should be preceded by an improvement in our relations and a solution of the problems that make them difficult today”. The Patriarch then spoke of the problem of proselytism, the attempts made by the Catholic Church to convert Orthodox faithful to Catholicism, and he added: “The transfer of the residence of the [Greek-Catholic] archdiocesan see from Lvov to Kiev has certainly not helped to improve our relations”. Alexis II then expressed the hope that the commission appointed to solve these questions “may help to improve the situation”.
