Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad met with Cardinal Edward Cassidy

On June 13, 2000, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad received at the Department for Exteal Church Relations a delegation of the Holy See which was led by Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promoting of Christian Unity.

In the course of their talk, the sides discussed the present state of the conflict between the Orthodox and the Greek Catholics in weste Ukraine and considered primary agenda items for the plenary session of the Inteational Mixed Commission for Theological dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches to take place from July 12 to 19, 2000, in Baltimore, USA. They also considered factors impeding the successful development of this dialogue.

Participating in the meeting from the Roman Catholic side were also Bishop Walter Kasper, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promoting of Christian Unity, and Rev. Joseph May, staff member of the Council.

Taking part in the talk from the Department for Exteal Church of the Moscow Patriarchate Relations were Hegumen Hilarion (Alefeyev), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations, and I. Vyzhanov of the DECR secretariat for inter-Christian relations.