Metropolitan Kirill meets the Ambassador of the Malta Order

On 10 December 2007, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad received the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta Gianfranco Facco-Bonetti. The meeting took place at the Moscow Patriarchate Department for external church relations.

Metropolitan Kirill warmly welcomed the Ambassador, congratulated him on his new assignment and noted good relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Embassy of the Italian Republic in Moscow in 2001-06, when Gianfranco Facco-Bonetti was the Ambassador.

They discussed possible ways of cooperation between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Malta Order which is closely linked with the Roman Catholic Church, but enjoys the rights of a sovereign state. Christian charity is a direction of the Order’s activities.

Taking part in the meeting were also the DECR secretary for interchristian relations Rev. Igor Vyzhanov and Counsellor of the Malta Embassy in Moscow Nicola Savoretti.