Patriarch Alexy meets with General Minister of the Franciscan Order Fr. Jose Rodriguez Carballo

On 23 March 2006, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church met with general minister of the Franciscan Order Fr. Jose Rodriguez Carballo and members of his delegation. Among them were general advisor and president of the Commission on Dialogue Miguel Martin Vallecillo, secretary of the commission Tekle Vetrali, Rector of Franciscan brothers in Russia Jim Emiston and member of the Franciscan Community in St. Petersburg Roland Shakals.

The Russian Orthodox Church was represented by Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, and Rev. Igor Vyzhanov, DECR MP secretary for interchristian relations.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia noted that he was glad to welcome representative delegation of the Franciscan Order, which is one of the most well-known and influential orders of the Roman Catholic Church.

Relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Franciscan Order have had a long history, Patriarch Alexy reminded. ‘Representatives of the Order have been present in Russia since 1245, their task was to care for foreigners-Catholics who lived in Kiev’, His Holiness said and wished the Franciscans would rather work among the Catholics than carry out their mission among Orthodox believers, so that in modern Russia the Franciscan Order would be guided by the appeal of Pope Benedict XVI not to use charity as a pretext for enticement of believers from one Church to the other expressed in his first encyclic ‘God is love’. The Patriarch regretfully noted that the problem of such activity of Catholic structures in Russian and other CIS countries remained one of the most painful in the relations between the two Churches. ‘It is impossible to convert people who need help and support under the pretext of charity’, he said.

His Holiness underscored that Orthodox and Catholics should cooperate in preaching Christian values, traditional morality and common position on bioethics in secular world. ‘The Russian Orthodox Church is open to dialogue and cooperation with the Franciscan Order’, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy said.

General minister of the Franciscan Order Fr. Jose Rodriguez Carballo thanked for the opportunity to meet with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is the second time when His Holiness the Patriarch meets with the head of the Franciscan Order, the first meeting took place in 1993, when His Holiness received the predecessor of the acting general minister of the Order of Little Brothers. ‘We are willing to urge our brothers who work in Russia to cooperate with the Russian Orthodox Church without any idea of proselytism as we know that the tradition of this country is Russian Orthodoxy’, Fr. Jose Rodriguez Carballo said.