For the first time ever, a pope will meet with a patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Vatican has announced.
The
meeting is aimed at improving ties between the Roman Catholic Church
and the Orthodox Church, which broke away in the year 1054.
The globe-trotting Pope Francis is scheduled to meet Patriarch Kirill in Havana on Feb. 12.
“The
importance of this event is this is the first time the pope meets the
patriarch — it is extremely important for ecumenism,” Father Federico
Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said at a news conference Friday.
The
Orthodox Church split away nearly 1,000 years ago amid disagreements
over liturgy and power-sharing. Over the centuries, the relationship has
been full of rancor and distrust.
The Vatican and the wider
Orthodox Church’s spiritual leadership have moved to patch things up
over the last century, and Francis has met its current spiritual head,
Patriarch Bartholomew. But the relationship has remained troubled
because the powerful Russian branch, whose 150 million members account
for two-thirds of all Orthodox Christians, has kept its distance.
In 1995, Pope John Paul II
called the eastern and western churches the two lungs of Christianity
and wanted to visit Moscow. But his plans to establish new Catholic
dioceses in Russia only deepened the rift, with Russia accusing him of
trying to convert Orthodox Christians to Catholicism.
Lombardi said the historic meeting this month follows two years of diplomacy. “This is not improvised,” he said.
The
meeting will take place in the airport in Havana, a location that suits
the longtime desire of both churches to meet on neutral ground as well
as the schedules of Kirill and Francis. The Russian patriarch will be in
Cuba as part of a tour of Latin America, while Francis will stop at the
airport on his way to Mexico.
Cuba also has significance because
it was for many years an ideological front line between Catholicism and
Russian communism, while in 2014, Francis helped reopen diplomatic
relations between Cuba and the U.S.
The two leaders will meet for
nearly two hours before signing a joint declaration at an event hosted
by Cuban leader Raul Castro.
The signing, Lombardi said, will signify “a dialogue that can overcome previous obstacles.”
Metropolitan
Illarion, foreign policy chief of the Russian Orthodox Church, said
Friday there were still basic disagreements to resolve, including the
role of Orthodox churches in western Ukraine.
The killings of
Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Middle East conflicts were a key
motive for scheduling the meeting, he said.
“The situation in the
Middle East, in northern and central Africa and in other regions where
extremists are perpetrating a genocide of Christians requires immediate
action and an even closer cooperation between Christian churches,”
Illarion said.
“In this tragic situation, we need to put aside
internal disagreements and pool efforts to save Christianity in the
regions where it is subject to most severe persecution.”
The rift
between the churches goes far beyond a battle for converts in Russia.
One Vatican expert said it is largely about who would come out on top if
they ever reunited. There are 1.2 billion Catholics.
“It’s about
who has the bigger hat,” said Robert Mickens, editor in chief of Global
Pulse. “The Russians are afraid of being swallowed up.”
Mickens
said the Vatican has traditionally viewed itself as superior to the
Russian Orthodox Church. But Francis has made friends in Moscow by
behaving more like an equal.
Mickens added that the Russians had
decided to act while Francis was still in office. “They fear a
conservative backlash in Rome after Francis,” he said.
A key turn
in church relations came in November 2014, when Francis bowed to
Bartholomew during their meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, said Gerard
O’Connell of the news organization Vatican Insider. The rapprochement
“has a lot to do with the humility shown by Francis to the Orthodox
Church,” he said. LATimes
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