Russian Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church continue cooperating in aid to Christians in Middle East
From July 16 to 18, 2019, with a blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk as head of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR), a group of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church visited the headquarters of Kirche in Not (the Church in Need), an international Catholic charitable foundation based in Koenigstein, Germany. The delegation included Hieromonk Stephan (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; Hieromonk Ioann (Kopeikin), pro-rector for training, Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate Studies (CMI); and Ms. Myazdrikova, executive director of the Poznanie [Learning] charity.
The delegation held talks with the Kirche in Not structures responsible for specific areas of work and met with its executive president Dr. Thomas Heine-Geldern. Participating in the talks were also Rev. Martin Bart, spiritual director of the foundation; Ms. Regina Lynch, Church in Need project director; and P. Gumenyuk, head of the foundation’s office for relations with Russia.
They discussed the continuation of joint projects for giving aid to Christians in the Middle East as a follow-up of agreements concluded by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Francis of Rome in 2016 in Havana.
The current prospects for this work were outlined during the meeting of a Church in Need delegation with the DECR chairman Metropolitan Hilarion, which took place on April 16, 2019, in Moscow.
DECR Communication Service