Russian church leader says no rift between Vatican, Eastern Catholics

Published: 2005-07-15

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- A senior Russian priest said the Vatican has not disowned the country's Eastern Catholic Church in order to improve Catholic-Orthodox ties, as the Russian Orthodox Church has claimed. "The Eastern Catholic Church is fully recognized -- it has canonical status and a bishop of its own," said Father Igor Kovalevsky, secretary-general of the Russian bishops' conference. "Neither the Catholic Church in Russia nor the Holy See has deserted Russian Catholics of the Eastern rite. On the contrary, we are providing pastoral care for them and have every interest in continuing this," he said. In late June, the Russian Orthodox Church's Moscow Patriarchate said that in a letter to Orthodox officials Archbishop Antonio Mennini, Vatican nuncio to Russia, described the Eastern Catholic Church as an "illegal establishment." A spokeswoman for the Vatican nunciature in Moscow confirmed July 14 that Archbishop Mennini had written to patriarchate officials, but said the envoy was unavailable for comment.

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