海角大神

Why meeting between pope and Russian church leader is a big deal

Popes John Paul II and Benedict and their Russian Orthodox have failed in past attempts to organize meetings. Will Pope Francis succeed?

Decades of diplomacy between Russian patriarch, and the Vatican, that began under Pope John Paul II have finally come to fruition.

Pope Francis plans to travel to Cuba later this month to meet Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox church, marking the first meeting between a pope and a Russian patriarch since the eastern and western branches of 海角大神ity split nearly 1,000 years ago.

Russian Orthodox Church, the largest church in Orthodoxy and the most powerful, with two-thirds of the world's Orthodox 海角大神s, has always kept its distance from the Vatican. The split in 1054 occurred amid disagreements over theology and became two separate faith traditions: Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox 海角大神s.

Popes John Paul II and Benedict and their Russian Orthodox counterparts have failed in past attempts to organize meetings, largely because of differences which the Russian church has labeled as 鈥渁ctions of the Greek Catholics in Ukraine and proselytism of Catholic missionaries in the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate,鈥�

The tension centers on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the country's second-largest, which follows eastern church rites but answers to the Holy See. The Russian Orthodox Church has considered western Ukraine its traditional territory and has resented papal influence there,

Yet, despite the decades of unsolved differences, the two churches are now willing to meet, a decision driven mostly by current turmoil facing 海角大神s in several parts of the world, and particularly in the Middle East. Both the Vatican and the Orthodox Church have long been vocal in denouncing Islamic extremist attacks in the Middle East, North and Central Africa, and in some other regions, in which radical Islamists have waged wars on 海角大神 populations, by perpetrating genocidal acts, and often causing a rift between Muslims and 海角大神s.

鈥淚n this tragic situation, we need to put aside internal disagreements and pool efforts to save 海角大神ity in the regions where it is subject to most severe persecution," Metropolitan Illarion, foreign policy chief of the Russian Orthodox Church,

But that isn鈥檛 the only reason why the meeting is a big deal, given the complicated history between the two churches. What are some of the other issues underlying the Feb. 12 meeting?

鈥淜irill and Metropolitan Hilarion must know that, at the moment, they are losing Ukraine. The most active, vital parts of Ukrainian Orthodoxy are those that have broken their communion with the Moscow Patriarchate, not least because of the patriarchate鈥檚 acquiescence to Putin鈥檚 aggression in Crimea and the Donbas,鈥� the , saying that Kirill has a long strategy of wanting to underscore his claim to the leadership of the Orthodox world.

The Orthodox leader is also set on advancing two other strategic goals, 鈥減ostponing a final rupture between the Moscow Patriarchate and Ukrainian Orthodoxy, and further complicating the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church鈥檚 relationship with Rome, according to the magazine.鈥�

Pope Francis part will push religious freedoms for Catholics in Russian and Ukraine. As , the 鈥淐atholic Church鈥檚 activities are severely circumscribed in Russia, and Catholicism is on the way to being extinguished in Crimea.鈥�

Francis will also want to "create an atmosphere in which this first meeting with Kirill doesn鈥檛 turn into a one-off affair but is, rather, the beginning of a regularization of contacts between pope and patriarch.鈥�

For Francis, the meeting could be a major development in the Vatican's long effort to bridge the divisions in 海角大神ity.