Meeting of Pope, Russian Orthodox Leader Called Off

MOSCOW —  The Russian Orthodox Church has called off a proposed meeting this month between its Patriarch Alexiy and Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II.

Officials said the churches had failed to agree on important issues that needed to be settled before their leaders could meet.

The Holy Synod--the forum that brings together the Russian Church’s top clergy--announced the decision in a statement Wednesday that restated Orthodoxy’s opposition to Catholic efforts to win converts in Russia.

Russian Church officials said last week that the Vatican and the Patriarchate were discussing a possible meeting between John Paul and Alexiy in Vienna on June 21 ahead of a European Ecumenical Conference.

“The Holy Synod announces with regret that preparation has been unsatisfactory for the meeting between the leaders of two churches. Several important conditions needed to make such a meeting fruitful are still lacking,” the statement said.

It added that the Russian Church was ready for further dialogue with the Catholic Church.

The Polish-born pope has expressed a desire to travel to Russia, where Eastern Christianity was introduced less than a century before the Great Schism of 1054. But the Russian Church, sensitive to the influx of rival religions in recent years, has opposed a visit.

The synod statement did not directly identify the differences considered an obstacle to a meeting. But it added a “historical note” restating its opposition to Catholic missionaries in Russia.

“The Orthodox Church views [Catholic missionary] activities in a country with a millennium-long Christian tradition as politically motivated,” the synod said.