10/09/2003

Orthodox Official Makes Catholic Overture

ROME -- A Russian Orthodox representative said it was time to overcome the differences between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, and that Moscow was ready to negotiate.

Metropolitan Kirill, chairman of the department for external relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, made the comments to an ecumenical meeting Monday in Aachen, Germany. Excerpts of his remarks were provided by the Rome-based Sant'Egidio Community, which organized the meeting.

"The time has come to change the current situation of difficulty between the Orthodox Church of Moscow and the Catholic Church," Sant'Egidio quoted Kirill as saying.

"Moscow is ready to talk: The issues are on the table. Once these difficulties are overcome, the meeting between the pope and the patriarch of Moscow will definitively turn the difficult page of the past," he said.

Ties between the churches are strained over Russian accusations that Roman Catholics are trying to undermine the Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Church, highly sensitive to what it views as obstacles to restoring its flock after decades of Soviet atheism, complains that Catholics are trying to convert people who traditionally would have been Orthodox.

Also attending the Aachen meeting was Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican official in charge of relations with other Christian denominations.