Russian Patriarch Faults Vatican on Pope's Ukraine Visit

VATICAN, Apr. 11, 01 (CWNews.com) - The Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow has complained that Pope John Paul II did not officially notify the Ukrainian Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev before finalizing his plans for visit Ukraine in June.

In an interview with the Italian publication Famiglia Cristiana, Patriarch Aleksei also expressed concern that when the bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church wrote to Pope John Paul, asking him to postpone his visit, "the Vatican purely and simply reconfirmed the program for that trip."

If the Pope really wanted to improve relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, Aleksei continued, he should "follow the recommendations of Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev." That Orthodox leader-the head of one of three separate groups claiming to speak for the Ukrainian Orthodox community-enjoys the support of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Russian Orthodox leadership has classified the other Ukrainian groups as "schismatic."

Patriarch Aleksei also repeated his oft-expressed insistence that in order to improve ecumenical relations, the Vatican must curtail the activities of the Byzantine-rite Ukrainian Catholic Church, and stop "proselytism" by Catholics in Russia.

Catholic World News Service - Vatican Update
11. april 2001