Pope, Russian Orthodox official meet privately at Vatican

Published: 2007-12-07

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Despite ongoing differences and even tensions, the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church have permanent and "always-open channels of communication," said Orthodox Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's office for external relations. Metropolitan Kirill met privately with Pope Benedict XVI Dec. 7 at the Vatican. The Vatican did not release any details about the meeting, but an interview with Metropolitan Kirill was published late in the afternoon by L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. "The meeting with the pope was very positive and very beautiful," he said. "On our agenda there are many important themes such as the promotion of basic values." Metropolitan Kirill's meeting with the pope came just four days after Russia's Interfax news agency quoted him as saying that the Roman Catholic dioceses in Russia should be downgraded to the status of "apostolic administration" that they had before 2002.

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