The head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), Patriarch Kirill spoke about the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church in his address to the hearers of courses of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, reported the web site of ROC.

The Patriarch of Moscow said that in Ukraine, “as the result of the violent actions of Greek Catholics in 1980-s-1990-s, the Orthodox believers lost their church buildings and still feel that their rights have been infringed” and that this question was discussed in the course of the contacts with the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, he stressed: “The conflict remains unsettled but at the same time, one should note that the relations between the Orthodox and Greek Catholics in Ukraine have improved.”

As he commented on the Orthodox-Catholic relations, on the whole, Patriarch Kirill pointed to the positive dynamic of the relations during the last five years.

According to him, both Churches can see the necessity to join efforts to face the challenges of the modern social life, namely, the processes of liberal secularization, globalization, crisis of family values, undermining of the traditional morality. Joint defending of the tradition al Christian values allows to develop the bilateral cooperation.

Patriarch Kirill stressed that of a great potential in the work of joining efforts on social questions are the Orthodox-Catholic forums which were established on the initiative of ROC and are conducted every two years thanks to the cooperation with the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe.

Source: http://risu.org.ua/en/