Moscow Patriarchate hopes for visible reanimation of Orthodox-Catholic dialogue
Vienna, May 4, Interfax - The Russian Church hopes for a considerable intensification of Orthodox-Catholic dialogue in the nearest future.
This was stated by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, at a briefing held during a break in the Conference 'To Give a Soul to Europe. The Mission and Responsibility of the Churches'.
The metropolitan admitted that in the 1990s the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches 'went through a hard time in their bilateral relations, and neither side profited from that tension'.
However, 'now it is time to gather stones. We should seek to solve together the problems on the agenda of our relations', he added.
Metropolitan Kirill also expressed the hope that the joint working groups for considering problems in relations between the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches will be able to settle the problems existing in their relations in the post-Soviet space.
He also noted that 'we should work much more energetically in face of global challenges coming from the modern world'.