ORTHODOX AND CATHOLICS PURSUE CULTURAL COOPERATION

UNCLAS VATICAN 000400

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR EUR/WE (Levin); EUR/RUS; DRL/IRF (Hewett and Mayland)

E.O. 12958 N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM SOCI VT RU
SUBJECT: ORTHODOX AND CATHOLICS PURSUE CULTURAL COOPERATION

Ref: a) 04 Vatican 3308; b) 04 Vatican 2671; c) 04 Vatican

1171

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Summary
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1. (SBU) Holy See officials have told us recently they are
encouraged by "small signs" of progress in Orthodo
2.(SBU) Holy See Country Director for Russia Monsignor
Julio Murat told us that he has seen an increasing openness
on the part of some Orthodox to the Vatican in recent
months on cultural issues. Official statements by some
Orthodox authorities and Russian politicians remain cool to
the Catholic Church, he said, but more and more often
Vatican authorities were finding a welcoming reception at
universities or cultural events to which they were invited.
Murat said he took heart in these "small signs."

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Cardinal and Metropolitan Join Forces
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3. (U) Recent events back Murat's observations. In
December, Orthodox Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk (also
President of the Theological Commission of the Orthodox
Church) invited the President of the Pontifical Council for
Culture (formally known as the Council for Non-Believers),
Cardinal Paul Poupard, to present the keynote address at a
conference on the importance of Christian values to Europe.
A press statement from Poupard's Vatican office said the
conference in Minsk was "the fruit of 25 years" of contacts
between the two churchmen. Immediately before traveling to
Belarus for the December conference, Cardinal Poupard
inaugurated an exhibit in his office of two-dozen icons
painted by Russian artists. One of the icons had been
blessed by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II and given to
Poupard for delivery to Pope John Paul II.

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Library Promotes Unity
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4.(SBU) Cardinal Poupard and Metropolitan Filaret had
also been together in Moscow in November 2004 for the
inauguration of the Library of the Holy Spirit, an
Orthodox-Catholic research center where scholars can work
together to promote Christian thought. During that visit
Poupard and Patriarch Alexy issued a communiqu expressing
their agreement on the need for "collaboration between the
churches in the cultural realm, especially in light of the
secularization, indifference toward religion, and
activities of new religious groups" in Europe. After
returning to Rome, Poupard told Ambassador Nicholson that
he had been impressed by the welcome he received in Moscow,
and by the interest in Orthodox-Catholic cooperation he had
seen on the part of ordinary Russians. He told the
Ambassador he saw hope for advancement of Orthodox-Catholic
relations via the cultural route, even if the road was
rougher when it came to theological issues.

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Shared Values
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5.(U) In an assessment of ecumenical relations during
the January 18-25 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the
Vatican official responsible for Orthodox Church issues,
Polish Jesuit Jozef Maj, said relations had "developed
notably." He said the positions of Catholics and Orthodox

were almost convergent when it came to moral issues and
social teaching, and that this commonality should lead to
Christians having a greater impact on European society.
Maj also noted educational collaboration between the two
churches that includes scholarships for Orthodox priests to

study at Vatican universities.

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Comment
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6. (SBU) The Vatican had high hopes for the effect that
the Pope's return of the famed Kazan icon would have on
OrthodoxCatholic relations (ref a). Instead, the reaction
from Patriarch Alexy and some other Orthodox leaders fell
well short of Holy See expectations. Nevertheless, the
goodwill that that gesture, and other "small steps" in
relations have generated may now be paying dividends, at
least on the cultural level. The Orthodox and Catholic
Churches' shared aversion to European secularism make them
natural allies in combating what they both regard as a
central threat to faith in Europe. American Archbishop
John Foley, President of the Pontifical Council for Social
Communications, is now planning his own trip to Russia this
spring to help maintain any new momentum in relations.

HARDT


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2005VATICA00400 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED