Russian Patriarch Kirill has stated that there are no plans for meeting the Pope, Vecherniye Novosti reports.
The Patriarch noted that development of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church requires radical changes in the atmosphere of relations by settling problems.
Concerning the Ukrainian Church, Kirill noted that, despite the loyalty of Ukrainian Catholics to the Pope, they still strive for independence. The Ukrainian Catholics ruined the work of the four-sided commission formed by the Vatican, the Moscow Patriarchy, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Catholic Church in 1990.
The Russian Patriarch underlined that regular contacts with Catholics in Moscow keep raising the issue of Orthodox churches in Western Ukraine.
A meeting between the Patriarch and the Pope was an issue of debate even during the life of the previous Orthodox leader. The media expressed full confidence in such a meeting last year.
