“Useful” talks with Russian patriarch
Vatican envoy sees an opening

Cardinal Roger Etchegaray met with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksei II in Moscow on December 8, and described their talk as “cordial and useful.”

The president of the Vatican’s committee orchestrating the Jubilee celebration traveled to Moscow with Bishop Pierre Duprey, the former secretary of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. They had been invited to participate in a symposium on the legacy of Pope John XXIII, co-sponsored by the Moscow Academy of Sciences and the University of Bologna.

Cardinal Etchegaray, who was the opening speaker for the conference, also used his trip as an occasion to meet with Patriarch Aleksei—the leader of the world’s largest Orthodox body. Although Cardinal Etchegaray declined to provide details about their discussion, it was generally assumed that the main topic would have been the Pope’s visit to the Ukraine in June of next year—a visit on which the Moscow Patriarchate has not yet issued any public comment. Informed sources confirmed that the cardinal also had brought up the possibility of a meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Aleksei.

A source within the Russian Orthodox Church indicated that the Patriarch expressed willingness to consider such a meeting. However, he said that the Patriarch stipulated two preconditions. First, the Pope would have to make some “significant gesture” toward the Ukrainian Orthodox, easing their fears about clashes with the Eastern-rite Ukrainian Catholic Church. Second, the Pope should promise that the Catholic Church will not engage in “proselytism” in traditionally Orthodox countries. The Patriarch himself has listed these same conditions during public statements over the past year.

Cardinal Etchegaray has maintained friendly ties with Patriarch Aleksei for a number of years. When the French-born cardinal was Archbishop of Marseilles and president of the French bishops’ conference, he collaborated closely with the Patriarch—who was then the Metropolitan of Tallinn, Estonia—in planning a major ecumenical encounter in 1978.

During the Moscow conference on December 8, the tensions between the Catholic and Orthodox churches was obvious when Orthodox theologian Ilarion Alfeyef, who works closely with the Moscow Patriarchate, said the relations between the two religious bodies “have not improved recently.” He blamed the Catholic Church for the failure of an ecumenical assembly held in Baltimore in July, where discussions foundered over disagreements on the status of the Eastern Catholic churches.

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