” “"Now it is time we gathered the stones. We must try to solve together the problems that are on the agenda of our relations". These are the words of the metropolitan bishop Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, head of the Department of the Patriarchate of Moscow for Foreign Relations, at a briefing during the European Meeting of Christian Culture, which is in progress in Vienna, promoted by the Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow, about "Giving a soul to Europe. The mission and the responsibility of the Churches". The metropolitan bishop says the Russian agency Interfax has recognised that in the Nineties the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church "went through a hard time in their bilateral relations, and no party benefited from such tensions". The metropolitan bishop Kirill said the time has come to give a new lease of life to the relations between the two Churches and is hopeful about the Orthodox-Catholic work group that was created in February 2004 after the official visit of a Vatican delegation to the Patriarchate of Moscow, led by card. Walter Kasper. On that occasion, Kasper and Alexius II decided to create a "work group" that is going to review the problems and difficulties that exist between the two Churches in Russia. "We have to work harder said Kirill to face the global challenges that come from the modern world". ” “
