Card. Koch visits Patriarchate of Moscow

Vatican City - Another step forward in relations between the Catholic Church and the Moscow Patriarchate, this is how the visit of Card. Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, to Moscow is being seen.

The cardinal, according to a Council press release, will meet Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Metropolitan Hilarion , chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Patriarchate.  The latter was received by Pope Francis (pictured) on November 12 last. During the visit of Metropolitan Hilarion did not rule out a possible meeting of the Pope with Kirill , though not in Moscow. In this regard , Father Hyacinthe Destivelle ,of  the Pontifical Council , told Vatican Radio that "each time the Cardinal meets the Patriarch or Metropolitan Hilarion meets the Pope, there are discussions about this (possible encounter of the Pope with the Patriarch) everybody now can see that we need this meeting, yes".

During his visit to Russia, in St. Petersburg's Accademy of Theology the Cardinal will address a conference on the progress of the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue. The cardinal will also visit the monastery of Alexander Nevsky Lavra , which is celebrating its third anniversary .

During his stay in Russia , Card. Koch, at the invitation of the Archbishop Paolo Pezzi , the ordinary bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow , will preside at the celebration of the jubilee of the basilica of St. Catherine of Alexandria in St. Petersburg and will meet with the Catholic clergy in the context of meetings dedicated to the pastoral council Vatican II and ecumenical dialogue.

 Source: asianews.it (Dec. 14, 2013)