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On September 26, 2011, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia received Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Pope Benedict XVI’s legate to the celebrations marking the centenary of the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

Cardinal Tomko was accompanied by Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, apostolic nuncio to Russia, Mgr Visvaldas Kulbokas, first secretary of the Holy See Representation in Russia, and Fr. Viktor Jakubov (Slovakia), assistant Cardinal Tomko.

Patriarch Kirill warmly welcomed the high guest who came to Moscow for the celebrations held by the Catholic community in Moscow. Having mentioned that from 1985 to 2001 Cardinal Tomko was prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, His Holiness stressed that missionary service was one of the priority tasks for the Russian Church today and introduced the guest to the system of theological education and training for priesthood in Russia. He also noted that the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church encountered today the same challenges of the secular world and this gave the reason for developing cooperation between the two Churches.

In his turn, Cardinal Jozef Tomko thanked Patriarch Kirill for the warm welcome and conveyed to him greetings from Pope Benedict XVI. He made special mentioned of the fact that Patriarch Kirill enjoyed a great spiritual authority in the West where very many lend an attentive ear to his words. He also expressed hope for further development of dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

In conclusion of the meeting, which was held in a warm and friendly atmosphere, the sides exchanged presents.

DECR communication Service