On September 19, 2016, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the
Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations (DECR),
met with Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for
Christian Unity, in Chieti, where the Joint Commission for Theological
Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is
holding its 15th plenary session.
They discussed the state of the Orthodox-Catholic theological
dialogue and the progress made in bilateral relations between the two
Churches since the historic meeting between His Holiness Patriarch
Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Francis of Rome on February 12,
2016, in Havana.
Metropolitan Hilarion pointed out to the positive dynamic of these
relations. At the same time, the DECR chairman shared with his
interlocutor his profound concern over hostile statements and actions
recently made with regard to the Moscow Patriarchate and the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church by leaders of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. He
also expressed the conviction that the issue of unia needs to be revisited by the Joint Commission for Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue.
The both sides noted the fruitful development of cooperation between
the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in the field
of culture. In the recent year, progress has been made in the exchange
program of academic trips by clergy and theological students from the
Roman Catholic Church and the Moscow Patriarchate to Moscow and Rome
respectively. The interlocutors agreed that this project has good
prospects and should be realized in an annual basis.
They also considered other matters of mutual concern.
They were joined in their talk by Rev. Hyacinthe Destivelle,
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Rev. Alexis
Dikarev, Department for External Church Relations.
DECR Communication Service