Patriarch of Moscow and Pope meet

On February 12th, Cuba will hold a historic meeting between the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Pope Francis. This is the first meeting between the two in history. Important for both Churches, the event will take place in Cuba, where the majority of the population is Catholics, but the country's authorities developed friendly relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Why it was not done before

After the collapse of the atheist regime in Russia, the question of a meeting was repeatedly raised, but it was always postponed on different occasions. The reasons for this were the differences between the Roman Catholic and the Russian Orthodox Churches. The main difference was the proselytizing activity of Catholics in the canonical territory of the Russian Church and the Vatican neutral-positive attitude towards the seizures of Orthodox churches by the Ukrainian Greek Catholics.

Geopolitics of the Great Schism

The great schism in 1054 between the Orthodoxies and Catholics was caused by a combination of geopolitical and theological reasons. Among them were the Pope’s claims on the primacy of the universal church and the creation in the Western world for its Empire (Carolingian Empire and later the Holy Roman Empire) to challenge the Orthodox Byzantine Empire.

Theological Contradictions

The main theological disagreement was with the Western dogma of the Holy Spirit procession, not only from the Father, but also the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Son (Filioque).
Throughout the subsequent history, the dogmatic and canonical differences between Orthodox and Catholics only increased.

Conflict History

The Catholic Church repeatedly was the initiator of persecution and aggression towards the Orthodox countries. In view of the mostly negative interactions with the Roman Christians, any attempts to approach the Catholics and Orthodoxy are often considered by the Orthodox people as very suspicious. They suspect a hidden agenda of Catholics to conclude another union, to distort the Orthodox teaching and to establish their domination. There are some concerns prior to the coming meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch.

Russia and the Catholic Church

Several factors underlie the contemporary geopolitics of the Catholic Church towards Russia. The first of them is a continuation of the old tradition of proselytism.
The second factor is a special place occupied by Russia in the modern Catholic eschatology. It concerns the so-called “Miracle of Fatima”, Marian apparition, who supposedly was seen by the Portuguese children in 1917 in Fatima. One of the apparitions allegedly said that Russia, before the end of the world, should be dedicated to her Immaculate Heart.
Some experts believe that this is a special symbolic act. Some people believe that the “Consecration of Russia” means the transition of the country to Catholicism or the recognition of the Pope’s supremacy. There is a third interpretation, which the “Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary” concerns the religious revival in Russia and internal God redemption. The third factor is the power of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is the largest of the local Orthodox Churches. It is a natural ally of Rome in the protection of traditional Christian values and opposing militant secularism. And the Russian and Roman Church pays special attention to the need to protect the Christians of the Middle East, who suffer from wars and persecution by radical Islamists.

Greek-Catholic Factor

For the Russian Church it is essential to solve the problem related to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. It is not only the seizure of Orthodox churches and Orthodox religious proselytizing, but also a religious community that serves as a breeding ground for aggressive and anti-Orthodox, Russophobic Ukrainian nationalism.

Decline of Christianity in Europe

The Roman Church is not in the best position at the center of the civilization, which it created. Modern Europe is secular and aimed at absolute relativism. In these circumstances, European and Western Catholic traditionalists are also interested in an alliance with Russia and the Russian Church.

Russia has recently demonstrated that it is one of the few countries in the continent that defends traditional Christian values. So it is only natural that Russia's rapprochement is with the conservative part of the Western world, where the main authority is the Pope.