“For the moment, no meetings have been planned between the Pope and Patriarch Alexius II of Russia”. This was repeated today by card. Walter Kasper, president of the Papal Council for the Unity of Christians, at a press conference on the current state of ecumenism, on the occasion of the Week of Prayer for the Unity of Christians. After the visits of Rowan Williams, Anglican primate, of Christodoulos, primate of the Greek Orthodox Churches, and the Pope’s meeting with the ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in Istanbul, there were strong expectations of a reconciliation with the primate of Moscow. However, cardinal Kasper said that "cooperation between Moscow and Rome never stops, and their relations have never been better”. As to the development of ecumenical dialogue in general, the cardinal defined 2006 an "ecumenically successful year “. (to be continued)
