A new meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Cyril of Moscow and All Russia will take place in the foreseeable future. The pontiff announced this during a press conference on board the plane upon his return from the apostolic journey to Greece and Cyprus, reports TASS.
According to the Primate of the Roman Catholic Church, a meeting with Patriarch Kirill is “on the foreseeable horizon”. The pontiff said that next week the head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department of External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, is expected to arrive to him to agree on the details of this event.
“ I am always ready to go to Moscow. You don't need protocols to talk to your brother, ”the pontiff said.
The first & nbsp; meeting of primates since the Great Schism of Churches in 1054, when the Catholic and Orthodox Churches were completely divided, took place in Havana on February 12, 2016.
This year in Athens and Nicosia, Pope Francis spoke with the primates of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos II and the Greek Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Cypriot Orthodox Church. Archbishop Jerome II. Commenting on these meetings, the pontiff expressed the opinion that the dialogue should continue without waiting for the consent of the theologians. “Theologians should continue to study because it helps to achieve unity, but in the meantime we are moving forward, praying together, doing good deeds,” said the Primate of L & # 39; 39; Roman Catholic Church. “Working and praying together is something we can do. The unit starts today with this. & # 39; & # 39;
Pope Francis' visit to Greece and Cyprus lasted from December 2-6. On the occasion of such a historic event, hundreds of believers from neighboring countries gathered in Cyprus to participate in the ecumenical prayer that the Pontiff celebrated at the Church of the Holy Cross in Nicosia .
Earlier, the Pope called the Mediterranean Sea a “great cemetery” because large numbers of refugees die there trying to reach European Union countries . He called for leniency towards illegal migrants. The pontiff's declaration aroused & nbsp; a reaction to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
In October, information on a possible meeting of the primates of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches & nbsp; has been confirmed & nbsp; by the Head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. >