A Conference on “John XXIII: Christian Witness, Dialogue with the Non-Orthodox, Peaceful Coexistence” took place in Moscow

A CONFERENCE ON “JOHN XXIII: CHRISTIAN WITNESS, DIALOGUE WITH THE NON-ORTHODOX, PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE” TOOK PLACE IN MOSCOW

A conference on John XXIII: Christian Witness, Dialogue with the Non-Orthodox, Peaceful Coexistence” took place on December 8-9 in Moscow. The Russian Academy of Science organized it. Scholars from Russia, Italy and the Vatican attended.

Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Pontifical Council “Justice and Peace” and chairman of the Millennium committee spoke at the opening of the conference. Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, sent a message to the conference, which was read by Hegumen Hilarion (Alfeyev), DECR secretary for inter-Christian Relations.

He also made a report describing the present state of relations between the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches. According to him, the Orthodox-Catholic relations gradually returned to the situation that existed before the time of Pope John XXII and the Second Vatican Council. This tendency was manifest in particular at the Baltimore meeting of the Joint Commission for Dialogue between the Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. The dialogue came to an impasse as the Roman Catholic side refused to recognize problems with regard to the Uniate Churches. “If events develop in the same direction, we may very soon return to the level of relations between the two Churches that existed in the time of the Council of Florence. It is not a long way off to the relations that existed in the time of crusades” Hegumen Hilarion stated, adding, “I hope this will not happen. We expect from the Roman Catholic Church more openness and readiness to seek to improve the situation not only in word but also in deed”.