Putin to visit Pope on March 13
Pastor Dale Morgan
Putin to visit Pope on March 13*
It will be the Russian president’s first visit to Benedict XVI after his
two meetings with the late John Paul II, whom he never invited to
Moscow. Under the current Pontiff relations between the Catholic Church
and the Orthodox Patriarchate have improved.
Rome (AsiaNewsWires) – Pope Benedict XVI will receive Russian President
Vladimir Putin in the afternoon of March 13. The information however has
not been released by official sources in either the Vatican or Moscow.
This will be Mr Putin’s first visit to the Vatican since Pope Benedict
XVI’s election. The Russian President did meet John Paul II in 2000 and
2003, also in the Vatican, but unlike his predecessors Mikhail Gorbachev
and Yeltsin Putin, he did not extend an invitation to the Pope to visit
Moscow.
What the Russian leader will do in his meeting with Benedict XVI will
depend largely on how the Russians will view improved relations between
Catholics and the Moscow Patriarchate, which remains the real obstacle
to any papal visit to Russia.
In Orthodox circles unconfirmed reports suggest that a Patriarchate
official might be part of Putin’s delegation. According to the same
source, this might be seen as a sign of improved relations between Rome
and Moscow even if there is no invitation to the Pope.
In the almost two years since Benedict XVI’s pontificate began relations
between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Vatican have warmed considerably
after the long frost that prevailed during John Paul II’s tenure. This
situation was largely due to Orthodox accusations against the Catholic
Church of proselytising, accusations which still persist, albeit not as
intensely as before.
For many in the Vatican, such tension is viewed as one of the main
factors explaining Russia’s religious laws. In 1990, under Gorbachev, a
law had extended effective freedom to all religious groups. In 1997 a
new law limited that freedom to so-called ‘traditional’ religions and
tried to block ‘non traditional’ religions. Despite the fact that the
Church of Rome had been active in Russia since Tsarist times it was
included in this group.
Often responding to pressures by the Orthodox, local authorities in
Russia have made matter worse.
Tensions reached a crescendo in 2002 when Russian authorities refused to
renew visas for Catholic priests who had been active in the country for
years.
Putin, one of the few foreign heads of state not to attend John Paul
II’s funeral, expressed in his message of best wishes to the
newly-elected Pope a desire to “pursue a constructive political
dialogue” with the Vatican.
Since then there have been some modest signs that relations between Rome
and the Moscow Patriarchate are thawing. How significant they really are
will be put to a test when Putin does comes visiting.
Baptised in the Orthodox faith, the Russian president has said that he
is a man who can serve as mediator between the Churches. (FP)