Vatican City (
AsiaNews) - Another step forward in relations between the Catholic Church and
the Moscow Patriarchate, this is how the visit of Card. Kurt
Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, to
Moscow is being seen.
The
cardinal, according to a Council press release, will meet Patriarch Kirill of
Moscow and All Russia and Metropolitan Hilarion , chairman of the Department
for External Church Relations of the Patriarchate. The latter was received by Pope
Francis (pictured) on November 12 last. During
the visit of Metropolitan Hilarion did not rule out a possible meeting of the
Pope with Kirill , though not in Moscow. In
this regard , Father Hyacinthe Destivelle ,of the Pontifical Council , told Vatican Radio
that "each time
the Cardinal meets the Patriarch or Metropolitan Hilarion meets the Pope, there
are discussions about this (possible encounter of the Pope with the Patriarch) everybody
now can see that we need this meeting, yes".
During his visit to Russia,
in St. Petersburg's Accademy of Theology the Cardinal will address a conference
on the progress of the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue . The
cardinal will also visit the monastery of Alexander Nevsky Lavra , which is
celebrating its third anniversary .
During
his stay in Russia , Card. Koch,
at the invitation of the Archbishop Paolo Pezzi , the ordinary bishop of the
Catholic Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow , will preside at the
celebration of the jubilee of the basilica of St. Catherine of Alexandria in
St. Petersburg and will meet with the Catholic clergy in the context of
meetings dedicated to the pastoral council Vatican II and ecumenical dialogue.