A delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate Attended the Inauguration Ceremony of the Pope of Rome
24.04.2005 · English, Архив 2005
On 24 April 2005 a delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate led by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, attended the inauguration ceremony of Pope Benedict XVI.
The solemn divine service during which the newly elected Pope has been presented with the symbols of pontifical power – the pallium and the Papal ring with an image of St.Peter – was held in St.Peter’s Square. Attending the service were representatives of the Christian Churches and other world religious, leaders of states and governments and pilgrims from different countries of the world.
In his homily Pope Benedict XVI noted the challenges to the modern world and touched upon the problems of Christian religious life: ‘There is the desert of God’s darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast’, – he said. – ‘We are living in an alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and bring us into the splendour of God’s light, into true life.’
The Moscow Patriarchate delegation included Archbishop Mitrofan of Pereyaslavl-Khmelnitsky, Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and Rev. Igor Vyzhanov, acting DECR MP secretary for inter-Christian relations.
That same day the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation in the Italian Republic A.Yu.Meshkov gave a dinner in honour of the church delegation that arrived in Rome.
Links:
- Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, congratulated Benedict XVI, the newly-elected Pope of Rome
- His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II congratulates His Holiness Benedict XVI on his election as Primate of the Roman Catholic Church
- A Delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate in Rome
- Pope Benedict XVI Received the Delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate