Invitation to Rome for the Moscow Patriarch

Cathcon translation of Radio Vatican report

The Apostolic See invites Alexij II: The Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow is warmly welcome to the opening of the “Year of St Paul” in June. With this invitation, the Vatican continues their efforts to improve relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The invitation to the celebrations in Rome had already been sent to the Patriarch, said Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, the Archpriest of the Roman basilica of Saint Paul's Outside the Walls on Monday. Moreover, the man in the Vatican responsible for ecumenism, Cardinal Walter Kasper, has sent a similar letter to other Christian denominations - including the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I.