VATICAN
DOSSIER
JOHN PAUL
II RECEIVES RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Interview Focused on Integration of East and West
VATICAN CITY,
JUNE 5 (ZENIT.org).- John Paul II received Vladimir Putin, President of the
Russian Federation, on June 5, at 6:30 p.m. in the Vatican.
The
audience with the Holy Father was of a private nature, and was followed by
President Putin's meeting with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of
State, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, Secretary for Relations with States, and
Igor Ivanov, the Russian Federation's Minister of Foreign Affairs.
According
to Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, "during the meetings a review
was made of the Vatican's and Russia's roles in the process of integration
between East and West" in which, according to President Putin, "the
Holy See's mission is particularly important," the official statement
revealed. Moreover, it was agreed that special attention must be given "to
the problems of disarmament and the international situation."
Putin, a
former KGB agent, described his meetings at the Vatican as "very
significant," and something he had looked forward to from the very beginning
of his presidential mandate.
When John
Paul II received President Putin, he said: "I am very happy to receive you
in the Vatican at the beginning of your mandate." Navarro-Valls was
guarded on the question of a possible papal visit to Russia, one of the Pope's
hopes since the beginning of his pontificate, which could be a decisive step in
the dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox.
The Vatican
spokesman referred to the more positive tone used over the weekend by Alexy II,
Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in connection with a possible meeting
with the Pope. In general the leader of the Russian Orthodox is harshly
accusatory of the Vatican for the growth of Catholicism in traditionally
Orthodox areas, which the Patriarch often refers to as "proselytism."
The
meetings at the Vatican lasted a total of 50 minutes, 30 of which Putin spent
in a face-to-face discussion with John Paul II. The only witnesses to the
conversation were the interpreters.
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RUSSIAN
ORTHODOX CHURCH PLEASED WITH PUTIN'S VISIT TO POPE President Withholds Pope's
Invitation to Visit Russia
MOSCOW,
JUNE 6 (ZENIT.org).- The Moscow Patriarchate expressed satisfaction over the
fact that President Vladimir Putin did not invite John Paul II to visit Russia
during the meeting he attended yesterday with the Pontiff in the Vatican.
Vsievolod
Ciaplin, spokesman for Patriarch Alexy II, said that not inviting the Pope to
travel to Russia was "a wise and moderate position."
Putin's
decision "is worthy of great respect," the spokesman added. The Moscow
Patriarchate recognizes that the Russian President had the right to invite the
Pontiff but, in this way, manifested its understanding that the "question
cannot be addressed by separating it from relations between the Vatican and the
Russian Orthodox Church and, more generally, from the problem of relations
between State and Church in Russia."
Yesterday,
in responding to journalists, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that
there are still hopes for a possible Papal trip to Moscow. "A door remains
open until it is definitively closed," he said.
Both
Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin invited John Paul II to visit Russia. Therefore,
many expected that Putin would renew the invitation. However, according to
Navarro-Valls, the topic was not touched upon, at least officially, during the
30-minute meeting between the Holy Father and the Russian President.