English
By Stella Vlachopoulou, International Relations Expert
Pope Francis will hold a historic first meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the head of Russian Orthodox Church in Cuba on February 12. It is the first papal meeting with a Russian Patriarch since the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity split in the 11th century. The meeting is due to take place at Havana airport, where the two leaders will sign a joint declaration. In a joint statement the two churches said the meeting would “mark an important stage in relations between the two churches”. They invited “all Christians to pray fervently for God to bless this meeting, that it may bear good fruits”. Since becoming Pope in 2013, Pope Francis has called for better relations between the different branches of Christianity.
There has been some creative thinking on both sides in arranging this unprecedented first meeting between the leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches. Previous attempts by Francis’ predecessors to arrange a get-together in eastern Europe- foundered because the Russians have always suspected that it is Rome’s secret intention to poach converts from inside traditionally Orthodox lands.
The Holy See has always suspected that the separation between church and state in Russia has never been really clear even since the days of the tsars.
By arranging this meeting in Cuba – a different hemisphere far from Rome, Moscow and Constantinople with all their historical baggage of schism and religious conflict – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill can afford to concentrate on the real dangers faced by both faith communities in the 21st century: the risk that the ancient Christian presence, both catholic and orthodox, in the whole of the Middle East will be eradicated during current waves of persecution.
The meeting next week between the heads of the Russian Orthodox and the Catholic Church is the first real move to breach the gap between the two which could have been motivated by ISIS’ genocide of Christians in Syria.
The Roman Catholic Church has more than a billion members worldwide, while the Russian Orthodox Church numbers approximately 165 million.
The Vatican has existing ties with the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, but this will be the first meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch of the Russian Church.