_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Pastor-journalist expelled
Vatican protests “grave” action
Father Stefano Caprio, the Moscow correspondent for the Fides news service, has learned that he cannot return to Russia, because he is considered a “Vatican spy.”

Father Caprio—who also serves Catholic parishes in the towns of Vladimir and Ivanovo—had his visa removed as he boarded a flight from Russia to Rome. He explained that an official took his passport before he boarded the flight, and returned after a few minutes. “Only when I arrived in Milan did I realize that the annual visa, valid until July this year, had been removed,” the priest reported.

A Russian consular office in Milan confirmed that Father Caprio was not authorized to return to Moscow. He declined to provide any explanation. The consul spokesman said he could apply for a new visa in one year. The English-language Moscow Times later reported that Father Caprio’s name is listed as persona non grata in Russia—a category usually reserved for individuals who are regarded as threats to national security.

Father Caprio pointed out that he served two parishes with more than 500 parishioners. Both parishes were duly registered, as required by Russian law governing religious activities. The Italian priest had been in Russia since 1989. Originally assigned there as chaplain to the Italian embassy, he had taken on parish assignments in 1993. Since 1999 he has also provided news reports for Fides. His last report for Fides was an analysis of the Russian Orthodox Church, and a reply to Orthodox accusations of “proselytism” by the Catholic Church there.

The Holy See protested that the Russian government’s revocation of a Catholic priest’s visa is a “grave action,” and a blow to friendly relations. “This is the second time in less than a year that such an action was taken against the Catholic Church in Russia,” observed one Vatican official. (Father Jozef Opiela, a Polish native, had been denied a visa, at a time when he was serving as secretary to the Russian bishops’ conference.) Another Vatican official, scoffing at the notion that Father Caprio was a spy, said that the Russian government’s action “recalls the regrettable practices of the Soviet era.”

Prelate says Orthodox act “ideologically”
Stance will eventually change
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, has offered a tough reaction to the decision by the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow to suspend ecumenical discussions with Rome, in an article that appeared in the Italian Jesuit magazine Civiltà Cattolica. While reproaching the Russian Orthodox leadership for reacting “ideologically,” the cardinal asked Catholics to be patient because, he said, the current Orthodox position cannot last.

After the elevation of the four Russian apostolic administrations to dioceses last month, the Moscow Patriarchate announced the suspension of official relations with the Holy See, as well as the cancellation of a scheduled visit by Cardinal Kasper to Moscow. According to the Orthodox leaders, the Vatican’s decision was a provocation, and evidence of proselytism by Catholics.

“It became clear that behind the debate on the principles of canonical territory and proselytism lie arguments of a substantially ideological nature,” Cardinal Kasper wrote. Indeed, he went on, the Russian Orthodox Church “defends not only a reality which no longer exists, but also a relationship between the Church and the people which is problematic on the theological level.” Moreover, he criticized an “ecclesiological heresy” consisting in “not recognizing in the Catholic Church her missionary dimension.”

The cardinal suggested that the Russian Orthodox hierarchy “feels its own pastoral and evangelical weaknesses, and thus fears a Catholic presence that is more effective at the pastoral level, although fewer in numbers.” While recognizing a certain “coherence” in the Orthodox position, he said that it does not allow them “to face the future.”