It seems that relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church may be warming:
BERLIN — Chances of a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and the Russian Patriarch Alexy II at a neutral location are improving, a top official in the Russian Orthodox Church was quoted as telling a German magazine this week.
In an interview with the weekly Der Spiegel, Metropolitan Kirill, the top foreign relations official in the Russian church, said relations between the two churches have become warmer since Benedict was elected pope in 2005; and that after his own meeting with the pontiff last month, it is evident that “relations have improved.”
Asked whether he could imagine the pope and patriarch meeting in a third country, away from Russia and the Vatican, Kirill replied that “it’s certainly possible,” Der Spiegel reported.
He was quoted as saying that “the entire development in bilateral relations is moving in the direction of such meeting coming about.”
Interesting to say the least.
