_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Moscow sees the Pope
Video appearance seen as a precedent
On March 2, Pope John Paul II prayed the Rosary with young people throughout Europe, with the help of a video link. The event was noteworthy in particular because it was broadcast in Russia—allowing the Pope’s first “appearance” in Moscow.

The prayer service involved students in Athens, Budapest, Strasbourg, Valencia, Vienna, and Rome as well as Moscow. But the emotional high point of the event clearly occurred when the Pontiff, speaking in Russian, offered his greetings to the young people in Moscow. His words were greeted by thunderous applause from the young Catholics gathered in the city’s cathedral.

Moscow’s Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz provoked a second round of lengthy applause when he answered the Pope’s greetings by saying: “Dear Pope, we are waiting for you in Moscow!”

Pope John Paul has frequently expressed his desire to visit Moscow, but the Vatican has also made it clear that he will not undertake a trip to Russia without at least the tacit approval of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Such approval is not likely to come quickly. The leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church protested even the plans for the Pope’s video appearance. A spokesman for the Moscow patriarchate, Father Vsevolod Chaplin, told the Interfax news agency that the Pope’s participation in a church service—even by a remote video link—would be an unwelcome intrusion. He protested the “irrational persistence” of the Catholic Church in efforts to promote the Pope’s presence in Russia.

After the Saturday prayer service, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz told the Italian newspaper Avvenire that the event had been “historic,” because “for the first time, the Pope was among us—even if it was only by television.” But the Moscow archbishop said that he was still anxious for a papal visit—and certain that it would eventually take place.

In a conciliatory gesture toward the Russian Orthodox Church—which went unanswered—Pope John Paul sent a message to Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II on March 1, offering his fraternal greetings and prayers as the Russian prelate celebrated the feast of his patron saint. After offering his “most fraternal wishes” to the Russian patriarch, the Holy Father made reference to the current difficulties in his message. “I ask the Lord to guide us through the difficulties that we are now experiencing,” he wrote. He told Patriarch Alexei that he continues to pray for “that unity to which we all aspire.”

Vatican charged with stealing icon
Orthodox prelate asks police help
In a new sign of deteriorating relations between the Vatican and the Moscow patriarchate, a Russian Orthodox leader has asked the Interpol police agency to seize a beloved icon from the papal apartments.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk charged that the icon of Our Lady of Kazan was “stolen” from the Russian Orthodox Church. He asked the international police force to recover it “by whatever means are necessary.”

The icon of Our Lady of Kazan, dating from the 13th century, has been prized by the Orthodox faithful for generations. When Russia was swept by the Communist Revolution, the icon was acquired by Orthodox owners in America, who later sold it to Catholics. In 1991, after several transfers, the icon came into the possession of Pope John Paul II. (The exact history of the icon—especially since its move to America—is incomplete. Some art historians question whether the image now located in the papal apartments is the authentic original image of Our Lady of Kazan.)

Last November, Pope John Paul indicated that he was prepared to return the icon to the Russian Orthodox Church. But that prospect, like all other relations between the Vatican and Moscow, was placed on hold when the Russian Orthodox hierarchy pulled back from ecumenical talks after the Vatican established new Catholic dioceses in Russia.

Metropolitan Kirill, in his complaint to Interpol, said that the Russian Orthodox patriarchate would have preferred to settle the question of the icon’s ownership quietly, relying on fraternal cooperation between the two churches. But he complained, “The Vatican did not have that attitude in mind when they erected four dioceses in Russia.”