... predominantly European regions of Episcopal Assembly, which also limits the influence of Constantinople. Finally, the Council was moved from Istanbul to Crete under pressure from the Moscow Patriarchate.
In this regard, the meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis would seem to be a carefully and finely planned event, one that has raised the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church to a qualitatively new level and made their statement a document of particular importance. This 30-paragraph declaration is the largest and most substantial joint text ever published by the heads of the Catholic and Orthodox churches....
... Moscow Patriarchate, as saying that “the historic meeting was a possibility.” In early 2016, Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, emphasized that “the traffic light changed from red to green.” On his part, Pope Francis
said
that after two years of confidential talks he would be happy to embrace his Orthodox brothers.
The Sacred Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which completed its work on February 3, 2016 in Moscow, decided that a meeting should be urgently held between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis of Rome. It was also
noted
that, due to the situation as it has developed today ...
... to Sarajevo the Pope stressed the importance of ecumenism and encouraged dialogue among religions in order to favor a peaceful settlement of disputes and to prevent the spread of religious violence and intolerance; the importance of this message in Pope Francis’ views could not be exaggerated. A positive atmosphere in relations between the Holy See and the Kremlin could favor Vatican’s steps towards the Russian Orthodox Church. It is obvious that both Russia and the Vatican have compelling reasons to manage a dialogue and understand each other. All this is not enough to state that a new Vatican
Ostpolitik
is in the making but the Pope could indeed ...
