Rome, Italy, Jul 2, 2008 / 13:38 pm
In an interview with the L’Osservatore Romano, Archbishop Paolo Pezzi of Moscow said that the right conditions are still not present for a trip to Russia by Pope Benedict XVI.
During his stay in Rome to receive the pallium on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul last Sunday, Archbishop Pezzi said about a papal visit to Russia, “It is difficult to foresee at this time but it should definitely be part of future plans.”
In the archbishop’s opinion, there are two reasons why a papal visit to Russia cannot be considered at this time. “The first is that a trip of such magnitude would mean, or should mean in my opinion, significant progress in relations between the Catholic Church and the Moscow Patriarchate must be made to allow for an exchange of visits and/or a visit of the Pope. In addition, I don’t think the Pope wants to visit Moscow without an explicit invitation from the Orthodox Church,” he said.
Archbishop Pezzi said it was a “very personal opinion” of his that “a visit of this type would be more opportune after a meeting between the Patriarch and the Pope in a particular circumstance, perhaps in the course of some kind of ecumenical meeting, in any country of the world, to which both were invited to participate.”