Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Russian Orthodox patriarch talks of a meeting with pope

Russian Orthodox patriarch talks of a meeting with pope - International Herald Tribune Could it be that at last the Orthodox and the Catholic Church in Rome will be reunited? The signals coming from the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II seems to indicate that there is a good potential for the kind of unity that has been missing for more than 1000 years.
At the start of a visit to France, Patriarch Alexy II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, also predicted that a meeting with the pope might take place within two years. The two churches must cooperate to combat the rise of same sex marriages and "propaganda in favor of euthanasia and abortion," the patriarch said in an interview with the daily Le Figaro, adding that he had "the same approach" to Europe's lack of spiritual values as Pope Benedict XVI.
The patriarch will also meet with the Catholic Bishops' Conference and President Nicolas Sarkozy. In his interview in Le Figaro, Alexy said that, in terms of a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, he excluded "nothing." It could happen, "perhaps not in a month but in a year or two."

Hans-Gert Pöttering, president of the European Parliament and a practicing Roman Catholic, described the visit to France and meeting with Sarkozy as "highly significant at the current time," adding, "We need this dialogue if we are to avoid a "clash of civilizations."

Despite the positive message from the patriarch, obstacles could still prevent a meeting with the pope. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, underlined the problems of "missionary activities among some people belonging to the Catholic Church in Russia and some Greek Catholics in some parts of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan."

It is sad to think that there are priests underneath Patriarch Alexy II who are still placing obstacles in the way of any unity between the two halves of the Catholic Church. The alleged missionary activities have in fact helped the Orthodox to re-establish themselves after the fall of Communism. It is not really fair to blame the Catholic Church of Rome when in fact the people are hungry for knowledge of God that had been kept away from them for so long. Rather than claiming a false sense of hurt, they should be rejoicing that the people of Russia are returning to the faith. Let us pray for this meeting. It is essential that these two heads of the Church come together for a meeting, and the sooner the better.

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