Cardinal Kurt Koch, the president of the Pontifical Council for
Christian Unity, met on March 16 with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.
Neither the Vatican nor the Russian Orthodox Church released a detailed
report on the meeting, which was held in Moscow.
But the Orthodox
patriarchate indicated that Kirill had stressed his support for Pope
Benedict in the effort to combat secularization, particularly in Europe.
The Russian prelate also commented on the positive trend in relations
between Rome and Moscow.
Cardinal Koch was visiting Moscow for the first time since his
appointment as the Vatican’s chief ecumenist.
Prior to his meeting with
Patriarch Kirill, he had spoken earlier in the week with Metropolitan
Hilarion, his counterpart as ecumenical-affairs officer for the Moscow
patriarchate.