Moscow Patriarchate foreign office chief visits Vatican

After disagreements on the Russian war against Ukraine, relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican were "practically frozen". Now dialogue has been resumed.

The Vatican and the Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate are stepping up their dialogue again after irritations over Russia's war on Ukraine. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church's foreign office, Metropolitan Antony, met in Rome on Tuesday with the head of the Vatican's authority for the Eastern Churches, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, according to the Moscow Patriarchate. Antony was in Italy for a brief working visit, it said. There were no further details about his other programme.

The Russian Orthodox Metropolitan is considered the number two in his church after Patriarch Kirill I. Following disagreements over Russia's attack on Ukraine, Antony had said in October that the Russian Orthodox Church's relations with the Vatican were "practically frozen". The Moscow Patriarchate supports the war against Ukraine. In early January, however, Antony attended the funeral service for the late former Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

Francis had warned Cyril I during a video phone call in March 2022, according to his own account, that the Moscow Patriarch must be careful not to become a "state cleric" and Vladimir Putin's "altar boy". A meeting of the two church leaders planned for June or July 2022 in Jerusalem was cancelled. Recently, the Pope expressed his interest in meeting Kirill I on his return flight from his trip to Hungary.

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This follows on the meeting of Pope Francis and Archbishop Hilarion in Budapest.  President Zelensky seems to be dubious.