Report: Russian Orthodox Patriarch hopes new pope will improve ties between
churches
AP Worldstream
Apr 13, 2005

The patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church said he hopes the new
pope will seek to improve relations between the two churches after
centuries of division, according to an interview with an Italian
newspaper published Wednesday.

Relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox
Church have been strained, with the Russians accusing the Holy See of
using Eastern Rite congregations to win converts on its traditional
territory. The Vatican rejects the accusation, but the tension
prevented Pope John Paul II from fulfilling his desire to visit
Russia.

Eastern Rite churches follow many Orthodox traditions, but are loyal
to the Vatican.

“I regret the fact that serious problems remain between our two
churches,” Patriarch Alexy II told Corriere della Sera, when asked if
he regretted the fact that the pope never made the trip. Alexy was
strongly opposed to the visit.

He told Corriere that a meeting between the two churches’ leaders
should only occur once mutual relations were bolstered.

“Instead, in the case of the dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church,
there is no such positive dynamics, unfortunately,” he said.

The Polish John Paul, the first Slavic pope, saw a visit to Russia as
a chance to promote greater Christian unity, a millennium after the
Great Schism divided Christianity between eastern and western
branches. He visited several ex-Soviet republics including Kazakhstan,
Georgia, Armenia and Ukraine.

Alexy expressed his “most sincere respect” for the late pope and
praised him for reinvigorating the Catholic church at a difficult
time. He said that while many problems between the two churches
emerged when John Paul was elected, “it would be a mistake to reduce
all the differences exclusively to the personality or the nationality
of the pontiff.”

He called on the new pope, who will be elected in a conclave starting
Monday, to change the Vatican’s stance.

“I believe that the Catholic side must show the will to begin the not
easy and detailed work to radically change its policy in Russia and
the Commonwealth of Independent States,” a loose alliance of several
former Soviet Republics, he said.

“First of all, it must give up proselytizing,” Alexy was quoted as
saying.

The Vatican rejects accusations that it seeks converts among the
Orthodox, but Catholics have sought to recover properties that
belonged to them before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

“I sincerely hope the next Holy Father of the Roman Catholic Church
will contribute to developing relations with the Russian Orthodox
Church in a positive direction, will prove it has wisdom and the
necessary tact,” Alexy told the newspaper.