The head of Russia?s Catholic Church has said relations have improved with Orthodox leaders since the election of the new Pope, because of the ?deep respect? already felt by many Orthodox towards the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. ?We hope Benedict XVI will succeed in doing what Pope Wojtyla couldn?t achieve,? said Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, the head of Russia?s Moscow-based Mother of God archdiocese. ?The Orthodox already valued him very highly for his strong faith and robust stance on ... teaching, such as the central position of Christ. This may well be one of the points of encounter between our two confessions.?

The 59-year-old archbishop was in Rome for a pilgrimage of Russian Catholics to the grave of John Paul II. He said the ?climate of significant rapprochement? had ?raised hopes for the future?, and would be the prelude to a ?year of remembrance? for the late Pope in Russia?s four Catholic dioceses. ?The Holy Father wasn?t able to come to Moscow ? so we are now coming to him,? Archbishop Kondrusiewicz told journalists. ?Today, as never before, Catholics and Orthodox feel the need for a joint witness. Confronted by globalisation and existing conflicts, the Church of Christ faces an almost Shakespearean problem ? to be or not to be. To overcome it, we need friendlier cooperation, a basic step towards eventual unity.?

Catholic ? Orthodox ties have long been tense in Eastern Europe over Orthodox complaints of Catholic ?proselytism?, as well as over revived Greek Catholic churches, who combine the Eastern liturgy with loyalty to Rome and are known pejoratively as ?Uniates? by Orthodox leaders. However, in an April interview with Italy?s Corriere della Sera, Patriarch Alexei II paid tribute to John Paul II?s ?solicitude for his faithful?, and said he was ready to ?open a new epoch? in inter-Church relations if the Catholic Church ?radically changed its policies in Russia?.

Vatican and Russian Orthodox representatives met in New York in early May to discuss inter-Church relations under Benedict XVI, according to a Moscow Patriarchate communiqu?, as well as a ?pooling of efforts by both Churches in testifying to faith values in a society penetrated by a spirit of relativism and rejection of religion?.
Jonathan Luxmoore