Monday, October 01, 2007

Alexei II: Meeting with Pope likely in a year or two

This via the traditionalist Roman Catholic website Rorate Caeli; Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow indicated in an interview with the French paper Le Figaro that he expects to meet with Pope Bendict XVI in the next year or two. Assuming the accuracy of the story, this is a significant development. It would be the first explicit declaration by Moscow that there will be a meeting with the Pope of Rome. The Russian Church has been very cool towards Rome for years and has resisted attempts by the Vatican to arrange a meeting with the Pope. This was especially true under the previous pontificate. However since the election of B-16 there has been a noticeable warming in relations between the world's largest Orthodox church and the Holy See. Read the details here.

2 comments:

VSO said...

Well, I don't really expect anything to come out of it other than the usual "I love you. Obey me" from them and us suggesting they recant all their innovations since the 11th century-ESPECIALLY since 1962-if he wants to be the EP again. It just isn't going to happen with all those "Spirit of V2" people in charge-unless B16 makes like Gandalf the White and purges them himself.

All we can do is pray.

Arimathean said...

I suspect that Alexy is pleased to be seen giving Pope Benedict the respect he refused to give John Paul. He held a grudge against JPII for his role in bringing down Alexy's communist patrons, and he also saw the Polish Pope as a rival for leadership of Slavic Christians. Benedict is free of his predecessor's baggage on both counts.