Even Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, expressed his condolences for the death of His Holiness Alexius II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, in a telegram to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. Here is the text of the telegram: "Informed of the death of His Holiness Alexius II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, I wish to express my fraternal sympathies to the grief of this Russian Orthodox Church, as it entrusts its pastor to the fatherly and merciful arms of God. With affection, I unite my prayers to yours so that Patriarch Alexius II could meet in the light of eternal love the Risen Christ, whom he had served in his life, and I invoke from the divine goodness the support of Christian hope along with the strength to purse our journey of evangelical witness in the world." ” ” ” “
