Rome-Moscow meeting coming closer
Almost like clockwork, every 4 months another story comes out from an Orthodox or Catholic source on the possible meeting of the Patriarch of Moscow and the Pope of Rome. Often a reporter will put together an overly sanguine story that states that a meeting is just around the corner. Rome will then say they are always open to such an event and Moscow will say that no such meeting is planned and that there are many "difficulties" that must be overcome first (proselytism in Orthodox countries, expansion of Greek Catholics, etc.). Then, about a year ago, the Moscow Patriarchate took a different approach. Metropolitan Hilarion, cognizant that the theological and ecclesiological divide separating the two Churches was too vast to be bridged any time soon, put the emphasis on fighting secularism and defending traditional Christian morality. Now, knowing reunion is not a "just around the corner" reality, the two sides can work together while not becoming mired in constant denials of a "breakthrough."
Moscow, November 26 (Interfax) - The meeting between the Moscow Patriarch and the Pope is getting nearer each day, the Russian Orthodox Church said.
"Each day brings us closer to this meeting between the Pope and Patriarch," head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, told journalists in Moscow.
"Right now we are not prepared to make known the date, nor are we engaged in any concrete preparations for the meeting, but we are certainly getting closer to it. It is a calendar and astronomical fact," he said.
The work carried out by the Russian Church with the Catholic Church is aimed "improving the general climate and achieving a higher level of mutual understanding," he added.