Medvedev signs law on restitution of religious property

Now there is also the signature of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on the law for the restitution of religious property nationalized by the state. 

"A text that brings joy to the Patriarchate of Moscow, which now declares that "all outstanding issues between the state and the Russian Orthodox Church are now resolved," despite the discontent of religious minority communities.

Medvedev signed the document November 30 last, in a statement to Patriarch Kirill in the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos within the Great Kremlin Palace, one of the places of worship confiscated after the October Revolution that will now return to the Orthodox Church.

"This is an important law on which there has been much discussion and agreement," the president said to Kirill. He added that the text adopted is the best one possible because it solves a number of urgent problems that the Russian Orthodox Church and other religious organizations are facing.

For his part, the Patriarch thanked the head of state and parliamentarians: "The document shows that our country has overcome enormous obstacles and justice has been restored. The only country that can have a future is one that acts according to justice. "

The same day, however, speaking with members of the Synodal Department for Relations between State and Society in Moscow, the Patriarch expressed disappointment at the reaction of society to the new course of relations between the Church and the Kremlin.  

"In the field of relations between church and state there are no longer any questions of principle that remain to be resolved ... All three outstanding issues - the presence of religion in schools, the clergy in the army and the return of property illegally confiscated from the Church – have been resolved. "  

Yet something is still missing: the broad support of society for those goals. Kirill denounced a "hostile reaction from the majority of public opinion."  

That's why he asked the members of the Department to focus on neutralizing "these attacks against the Church."  

"There are underlying voices - he explained – of people who tell lies and attack the Church, thought to be authoritative."  

The goal, he said, is to "remove the mask from these people."

SIC: AN/INT'L

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