MOSCOW: The Catholic archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, will take part in a high-powered Vatican visit to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church this weekend.
It is the latest signal of a thawing in relations between Moscow and Rome since Pope Benedict XIV was elected.
Organised by the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow, Alexis II, it will be one of a series of inter-faith events taking place between July 3rd and 5th - before the G8 summit in St Petersburg (between July 15th and 17th).
More than 100 religious leaders, representing Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism, will attend the summit, which starts officially on Monday.
Representing the Catholic church will be Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Vatican Council for Christian Unity, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Archbishop of Malines-Brussels, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, Archbishop Tamkevicius of Kaunas in Lithuania, Bishop Joseph Werth of the Russian Catholic Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, retired prefect of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, and Archbishop Martin.
Last March, a delegation from the Moscow Patriarchate visited Italy, where they met Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, retired prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Eastern Churches, and Cardinal Etchegaray.
Last May, Bishop Mark Golovkov, who was a member of that Moscow Patriarchate delegation to Italy, conducted a divine liturgy at the Russian Orthodox church in Dublin's Harold's Cross, which Archbishop Martin attended.
Vice-chairman of the Russian Orthodox church's department for external church relations, Bishop Golovkov also attended the Synod of Bishops in Rome last October, representing his church.
On relations between Rome and Moscow, he said on his Dublin visit they were "better" but that problems over the Uniate church in Ukraine, which is in full communion with Rome, remained "the main obstacle" to closer ties.
The Uniate church was proscribed until 1989. It claims to have 4.5 million followers, mostly in western Ukraine, bordering Poland, and has sought the return of church buildings by the Russian Orthodox.
It has also been accused of seeking converts among Russian Orthodox followers.
