” “”Charity work" can "play an important role in the development of inter-confessional and inter-religious relations” and “Dr Haass confirms that, since he was and is worshipped by both Catholics and Orthodox”. This was stated by archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz (archdiocese of Moscow), who spoke yesterday, May 16th, in Rome (Papal Oriental Institute) on the occasion of the presentation of the book “Il santo medico di Mosca. Friedrich Joseph Haass. Vita e scritti” (The holy doctor of Moscow. Friedrich Joseph Haass. Life and works") by G. Marani, emeritus professor of ecclesiastic history at the Papal Oriental Institute. For Haass (1780-1853), a Catholic doctor born in Germany but lived most of his life in Russia, where he devoted himself to treating the poor in the hospitals and taking care of the deportees to Siberia, “the beatification process is under way already”, added archbishop Kondrusiewicz, as he remarked his exemplarity in having put in practice "the everlasting ideas of love, as highlighted by Benedict XVI in his first encyclical, Deus caritas est”. “A new appeal to love at the time of globalisation to create a fairer world”: for the bishop, who is in Rome with 150 Russian pilgrims, this is what the figure of Haass can mean.” “
