Russian Orthodox-Vatican Thaw May Depend On Vote

www.javno.com ^ | December 05, 2008 | Reuters

[Publius804]

Russian Orthodox-Vatican Thaw May Depend On Vote

The late Pope John Paul used to read the Bible in Russian, preparing for a trip he never got to take.

Hopes of a further thaw between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox church may depend on the choice of a successor to the late Patriarch Alexiy II in an uncertain procedure that could leave the outcome ultimately to chance.

The world's largest church and the biggest of the Orthodox churches have stepped up contacts in recent years and inched towards holding the first summit of their leaders in history.

The late Pope John Paul used to read the Bible in Russian, preparing for a trip he never got to take. Pope Benedict's aides are in regular contact with Moscow but Alexiy wanted some disputes solved before any meeting.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, the Orthodox church's top diplomat for the past two decades, is seen as the frontrunner to follow Alexiy, who died on Friday aged 79. He is considered open to cooperation with Catholics. But experts say his chances are uncertain, especially since the election method has not been decided on.

"Who will they choose? Who knows?" said Father Jivko Panev, theology lecturer at Saint Sergius, the Paris seminary of the Russian Orthodox Exarchate in Western Europe.

The Great Schism of 1054 split Christianity into eastern and western wings. Catholics number 1.1 billion, more than half the world's 2 billion Christians, while the Russians make up over half of the 220 million Orthodox around the globe.