Russian Church looks forward to further dialogue with Vatican

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the Holy See are beginning a new chapter in their dialogue, the Moscow Patriarchate believes. 

The other day, Pope Benedict XVI appointed a new ambassador of the Vatican to Russia, Archbishop Ivan Yurkovich. 

Observers hope that this appointment will resolve numerous problems between confessions and will also bring forth the date of a historic meeting of the heads of both Churches.

Russia is a strategically important country for the Holy See because over 1.5 million Catholics live on its vast territory. 

All of them need constant support, stressed Monsignor Visvaldas Kulbokas from the Embassy of the Vatican in Moscow, in his interview for “The Voice of Russia”.

“In Russia’s remote regions, such as Siberia or the Far East, it is very important for Catholics to feel the presence of their Church and their faith. This can be achieved through regular visits by the Nuncio and contacts around the regions, so that believers could see him not only as a representative of the Holy See but also as a pastor, close to every believer.”

"A Doctor of Canon Law and a polyglot, Archbishop Ivan Yurkovich, Slovenian by nationality, is the best person to represent the Vatican in Russia," says the representative of the Vatican Embassy. 

He speaks Russian, he knows the customs and traditions of the country and of the Russian spirituality. 

In the 1990s, Yurkovich represented the interests of the Holy See in Russia. From 2004 he was the chief Nuncio first in Belarus and then in Ukraine. 

Now that  Archbishop Yurkovich has been appointed the new Ambassador of the Holy See, the Moscow Patriarchate has the most optimistic forecasts for the further development of interconfessional relations. 

This is what Deacon Alexey Dikarev from the Department of International Religious Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate told “The Voice of Russia”:

“The Archbishop’s Ukrainian experience, where the situation with churches was very difficult, will help us to move forward on many issues and, in particular, as regards relations between Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Ukraine. As is known, this problem is one of the main obstacles in the way of a meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. We sincerely hope that Yurkovich’s experience will help us to overcome the differences.”

Both the ROC and the Vatican state that interconfessional dialogue has become very effective over the last decade. 

Catholics and Orthodox Christians are partners today, working together to preserve Christian values in the world. 

The previous Nuncio in Russia Archbishop Antonio Mennini made a great contribution to the consolidation of this positive communication, says the representative of the Moscow Patriarchate.

“It is during his time that considerable improvement of relations between the ROC and the Vatican took place both in Russia and on the international arena. 

Monsignor Mennini did a lot to make cooperation between our Churches fruitful and mutually beneficial. 

When he was in office the diplomatic relations between Russia and the Holy See were stepped up. 

In December 2009, during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s first visit to the Vatican, an agreement on exchanging embassies was concluded.

Time will tell whether the new representative of the Vatican will manage to win equally good graces of the Russian Orthodox Church. 

Anyway, it is already clear that the Moscow Patriarchate is interested in the improvement and consolidation of interconfessional ties. 

And who knows, maybe the historic meeting of the heads of the two leading Churches of the world, so highly anticipated, will take place in the near future.

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