Russian lawmakers say higher level of relations with Vatican

5/12 Tass 295

MOSCOW, December 5 (Itar-Tass) --The raising of diplomatic relations
between Russia and the Vatican is a significant step that will expand,
among other things, the inter-confessional dialogue between the Russian
Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, but the pope's visit to
Moscow should not be expected any time soon, State Duma deputies said.

First deputy chairman of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee
Leonid Slutsky believes that the upgrading of relations with the Vatican
to the "ambassadorial level" reflects progress in the resolution of
inter-religious questions in the first place. But he, too, thinks that the
pope will not come to Moscow any time soon.
"The raising of diplomatic relations naturally presupposes an exchange
of delegations, including at the top level. Bu in the case of the Vatican,
there are problems to be addressed in a complex triangle of relations
between the Russian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and secular
society," Slutsky said.
In his opinion, it is obvious that "the pope's visit to Russia cannot
be solely secular".
"It will also be necessary to organise a meeting between the pontiff
and the Russian patriarch. Work is underway, but it is too early to make
forecasts," he added.
Slutsky recalled that relations between the Russian Orthodox Church
and the Roman Catholic Church had been complex: during the perestroika,
various Catholic missioners were quite active in Russia, engaging in
blatant proselytism. Strained as they were, inter-confessional relations
further deteriorated in the early 2000s when the Catholic Church had
created dioceses in Russia without preliminary consultations with the
Russian Orthodox Church. The Moscow Patriarchate took it as support to the
strategy of proselytism. "The dialogue is now getting back on track, but
slowly," Slutsky said.
The head of the Duma Committee for Religious and Public Organisations,
Sergei Popov, also believes that the pope's visit to Russia "is a matter
of a distant future".
"The raising of diplomatic relations with the Vatican and the pontiff'
s visit are not interconnected in any way. It will be necessary to solve
problems at the level of inter-religious cooperation," he said.
During his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI earlier this week, President
Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Russian mission to the Vatican to be
transformed into an embassy.
Official diplomatic relations between Russia and the Vatican were
first established in 1816. Fifty years later they were severed for almost
30 years. After the second break-up in 1917, they were restored in 1990 at
the level of official representatives.
-0-zak/