While the Roman Catholic Church is very small in Russia, the Vatican continues outreach and dialogue with the Russian people

 

Archbishop Paul RIchard Gallagher  (ANSA)

Vatican

• Paul Richard Gallagher
• Russia

Archbishop Gallagher begins visit to Russia

A post on X by the Secretariat of State announces the programme for the Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, who arrives in Moscow today for a mission focused on dialogue and peace.

By Vatican News

Busy days lie ahead, with meetings with Russian authorities, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Catholic community.

This is the program for the visit to the Russian Federation by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Holy See Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, announced in a post on X by Terza Loggia, the account of the Secretariat of State.

The Archbishop arrives in Moscow today and will return to Rome on 28 August.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 25 August, the Archbishop will meet Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, followed by a meeting with Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The following day, Wednesday 26 August, Archbishop Gallagher will meet Yuri Ushakov, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation for Foreign Policy.

The schedule confirms the Holy See’s determination to continue along the path of dialogue, even at one of the most difficult moments in international relations at the global level.

Archbishop Gallagher’s visit will also provide an opportunity to meet the Catholic community, whom he will see on Thursday 27 August.

The day will begin with a meeting with the clergy, religious men and women, followed by the celebration of Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Moscow.

Afterwards, the Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations will meet with the Bishops.

The Catholic Church in Russia is a numerically small community and is geographically dispersed across a vast territory. Its territorial organization comprises the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow and the dioceses of St Clement in Saratov, the Transfiguration in Novosibirsk and St Joseph in Irkutsk.

This is not the first time Archbishop Gallagher has travelled to the Russian capital. His most recent visit took place in November 2021. On that occasion, the Archbishop met Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the then head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion.

Pope Francis meets with Russian Orthodox Patriarch in Budapest

 

Pope Francis receives Metropolitan Hilarion in the Nunciature in Budapest  (ANSA)

POPE

• HUNGARY
• ORTHODOX CHURCH
• RUSSIA
• POPE FRANCIS
• APOSTOLIC JOURNEY

Pope meets with Metropolitan Hilarion in Budapest

Pope Francis holds a “cordial” meeting at the Apostolic Nunciature with the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop of Budapest and Hungary, who previously served as the head of the Department of External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow.

By Vatican News staff reporter

After his morning appointments on the second day of his visit to Hungary, Pope Francis met privately on Saturday with Archbishop Hilarion, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Budapest and Hungary, in the Apostolic Nunciature where he is staying.

The former Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, Russia, was appointed to this post in June 2022, after serving for thirteen years as head of the Department of External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, and was known informally as Patriarch Kirill's "foreign minister".

A cordial meeting

The possibility of a meeting with Archbishop Hilarion had been anticipated by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, on 21 April, during his briefing on Pope Francis’ Apostolic Journey to Hungary. Mr. Bruni stated, however, that an audience was not a part of the official agenda.

As reported by the Holy See, the audience, which took place with the help of an interpreter, was cordial and lasted about 20 minutes.

The Holy Father greeted the Metropolitan with a hug and kissed his pectoral cross.

Previous meetings

Pope Francis and Hilarion last met on 22 December 2021 in the Vatican. On that occasion, according to the Holy See Press Office, the pair discussed some issues of common concern and their commitment "to seek concrete human and spiritual responses".

The first meeting between Pope Francis and the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan took place on 20 March 2013, the day after the beginning of the Pope's Petrine ministry. It was followed by several other encounters, including the one on the occasion interreligious event “Brother Peoples, Future Land" organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio in Rome on 7 October 2021.

Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Metropolitan meet again

 

Pope Francis meets Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion

Metropolitan Hilarion meets with Pope Francis on Wednesday ahead of the weekly General Audience, to discuss various issues of common concern among the Russian Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

By Lisa Zengarini

Before the General Audience on Wednesday morning, at 7:50 am, Pope Francis met the Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, His Eminence Hilarion Alfeyev, in the study of the Paul VI Hall.

Fraternity and common concerns

The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, reported that during the fraternal conversation, they discussed issues of common concern for which the two Churches are committed to seeking concrete human and spiritual responses.

The Holy Father thanked Metropolitan Hilarion for his 85th birthday greetings expressed on behalf of Patriarch Kirill. For his part, Pope Francis expressed his affection and closeness to the Russian Church and to its Patriarch, who recently celebrated his 75th birthday, recalling with gratitude the fraternal conversation they had in Havana in 2016.

After the meeting, the Pope and the Metropolitan exchanged gifts. Metropolitan Hilarion greeted Pope Francis with an icon of the Madonna "of the Sign” and the Holy Father gave a mosaic depicting the Madonna "Synkatabasis of God", in addition to  volumes containing papal documents, copies of his Peace Day Message 2022 and of the Abu Dhabi Document on Human Fraternity.

The meeting ended around 8:50 am.

Previous meetings

Pope Francis has met Metropolitan Hilarion a number of times during his pontificate, starting from 20 March 2013, the day after his enthronement.

The latest meeting took place in October this year, on the occasion of the 35th international peace meeting organized in Rome by the Community of Sant’Egidio on the theme “Peoples as Brothers, Future Earth – Religions and cultures” which the Orthodox Metropolitan attended. On the occasion he greeted the Pope with the Russian edition of the book “Prayer: The Breath of New Life”.

The volume, published by the Vatican publishing house LEV in 2019,  contains a collection of the Pope’s most significant words on prayer, specifically of the Lord’s Prayer, and is prefaced by Patriarch Kirill.

Pope Francis meets with head of the Russian Orthodox Church

 

Pope Francis and Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk  (Vatican Media)

CHURCH

• ORTHODOX CHURCH
• ECUMENISM
• ENVIRONMENT
• CHRISTIANS
• INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
• RUSSIA

Metropolitan Hilarion: Christians should promote spirit of fraternity, interreligious dialogue

In an interview with Vatican News, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk reflects on the importance of joint efforts geared towards the protection of our common home and the need for interreligious dialogue on the path to a world of fraternity.

By Benedict Mayaki, SJ

Pope Francis, along with scientists and religious leaders, met in the Vatican on Monday for a meeting themed: “Faith and Science: Toward COP26” as preparations for the UN Climate Change Conference scheduled to hold from 1 – 12 November in Glasgow, Scotland, continue.

The Holy Father and the participants at the day-long encounter also signed a joint appeal that called on world leaders to take action for the protection of our common home and to work towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions as soon as possible.

We have only one home

Among the religious leaders present at the meeting was Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, who spoke to Vatican News’ Fr. Benedict Mayaki, SJ on the importance of cooperation between religions in continued efforts for the protection of the earth.

The Metropolitan highlighted the shared responsibility that we all have to jointly work for our global home in the face of the ecological situation, regardless of religion or other differences.

“We have only one home and it is our global home. We cannot divide it into sections; we cannot say that this section will be exclusively for Christians or the other one exclusively for Muslims, yet another one for Jews. We have this global home and we are all responsible for its protection,” he said.

Metropolitan Hilarion then reiterated calls to political leaders to “take responsibility for the future of our planet” as the decision-making power is in their hands. He urged them to work to “make our planet clean, stop pollution, and prevent forthcoming catastrophes” linked to the climate emergency.

Fraternity and interreligious dialogue

Reflecting on Pope Francis’ repeated calls for fraternity and a world where everyone lives in solidarity, the Metropolitan underlined that we are all one family: “the family of human beings created after the image of God.”

“As we have one home, we also constitute one family,” he said, adding that even though people may come from different races, ethnic origins or social status, we are all created in the image of God.

Therefore, he continued, “the spirit of fraternity, the spirit of fellowship, of brotherhood, of friendship is the spirit which should be promoted by Christians… it is important that Christian Churches are involved in interreligious dialogues, in interreligious activity.”

In this regard, he highlighted that the Russian Orthodox Church places a strong emphasis on interreligious dialogue, particularly through the work of the Interreligious Council of Russia. He further explained that the Council is headed by the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and includes the participation of the leaders of the other religious confessions of the Russian Federation: Judaism, Buddhism and Islam.

He added that the Interreligious Council of Russia discusses common issues and comes to common positions that are presented to political authorities.

“We promote interreligious dialogue, and we believe that every Christian church takes responsibility for promoting it,” he said.

The experience of prayer unites Christians

On Wednesday, Metropolitan Hilarion presented Pope Francis with a copy of the Russian edition of the book “Prayer: The Breath of New Life” written by the Holy Father with a preface by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. The book collects the Pope’s words on prayer and in particular, his catechesis on the “Our Father.”

Responding to a question about this gesture, the Metropolitan noted that “the experience of prayer is something which unites all Christians." He said the Pope’s words are also of value to Russian-speaking Catholics, adding that some Russian Orthodox readers may also profit from his lessons. 

“I think it is important that Russian readers should know that Pope Francis is not only a church leader, he is not only involved in the administration of the Roman Catholic Church, but that he is also a man of prayer,” Metropolitan Hilarion said.