Posted on 05/19/2006 4:42:40 AM PDT by NYer
MOSCOW, May 18 (Itar-Tass) - Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, met Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday to discuss human rights.
During the meeting, “Metropolitan Kirill gave Benedict XVI a greetings message from Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia that had been accepted with gratitude,” the press service of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate reported.
Metropolitan Kirill told the pontiff about the Declaration of Human Rights and Dignity. He shared his impressions about the conference, “Give a Soul to Europe. The Mission and Responsibility of the Churches” (Vienna, May 3-5, 2006). The conference focused on human rights, dignity and moral responsibility of the people.
Metropolitan Kirill and Benedict XVI revealed the commonness of positions on these issues and expressed their readiness to continue joint efforts aimed at working out a document, which would meet the interests of the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.
“The foreign minister” of the Russian Orthodox Church arrived in Rome late on Wednesday as head of a church delegation. He plans to take part in a solemn consecration ceremony for a new Russian church dedicated to Great Martyr Saint Catherine, under construction in the Italian capital.
The Holy See will send a high-ranking delegation to the Moscow meeting of leaders of world religions scheduled for June, the Vatican press centre reported.
The delegation will include Cardinal Walter Casper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue; His Eminence Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington; and Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals.
Ut Unum Sint. I pray for the end of Catholic-Orthodox reciprocal prejudices and a reunion based upon fairness and equitability, not triumphalism on either side.
Not many ways to put a bad spin on this, is there!
Wonderful picture!
reminds me of those NFL promos with the two helmets clashing LOL
LOL! You're right!
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