Moscow: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
will meet Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican on December 3
during his brief visit to Italy, the Kremlin has said.
Medvedev's talks with the Pope could help in mending
ties between the Roman Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox
Church divided by centuries old schism, it said.
Late Russian patriarch Alexi II had refused to meet
with the then Pope John Paul II, and called for resolving
outstanding disputes between the two churches.
Earlier this year, Medvedev had spoken about plans to
improve ties with the Vatican, strained in recent years over
the Orthodox Church's displeasure at the Roman Catholic
Church's missionary activities and conversions in Russia.
New Russian patriarch Kirill, who succeeded Alexi II
earlier this year, is seen as a liberal in the largely
conservative church, and is reported to be eager to mend
relations with the Vatican.
He had sent his envoy, Archbishop Hilarion of
Volokolamsk, for talks with the Vatican.
The Archbishop, who looks after the Russian Orthodox
Church's external church relations department, after last
month's meetings in the Vatican, said that no arrangements
were being made for the meeting of the two church hierarchs.
At a recent meeting with Moscow-based foreign
correspondents, he, however, did not rule out that patriarch
Kirill and Pope Benedict XVI could "theoretically meet" on a
neutral territory.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, November 26, 2009, 18:01