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Conditions improve for Russian Catholics



WARSAW, Poland, July 26 (CNS): The secretary-general of the Russian bishops' conference said the Catholic Church's working conditions in Russia had improved, and he was hopeful that would lead to the development of higher-level diplomatic relations.

"Our Church's ties with state and society here have significantly improved recently, and we hope this process will now develop further," the secretary-general Fr Igor Kovalevsky told Catholic News Service in a July 14 telephone interview.

"A full relationship will clearly facilitate links at a time when both the Holy See and Russian Federation share common views on many international questions," Fr Kovalevsky said.

The Interfax news agency reported earlier in July that the Vatican's representative in Moscow Archbishop Antonio Mennini said talks on diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Russia would end soon after "covering a lot of ground".

A spokeswoman for Archbishop Mennini's office told CNS on July 14 that a timetable for diplomatic ties would depend on the Russian side, adding that "nothing had been decided" about possible dates.

In a July 5 interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera daily, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he believed diplomatic ties were "likely to develop", adding that Russian and Vatican negotiators had discussed "increasing them to full ambassadorial, diplomatic format".

Fr Kovalevsky told CNS that foreign Catholic clergy were finding it "significantly easier" to obtain permits to minister in Russia. He said local problems were caused by "burdensome Russian bureaucracy" rather than "bad attitudes to the Catholic Church".

"The whole of Russian society suffers from the same bureaucratic unpleasantness - this isn't a special problem for Catholics, and it isn't in any way a sign of persecution or hostility," he said.

He said Catholic ties had improved with the Russian Orthodox Church and attributed this to its new leader Patriarch Kirill, who was elected in January to succeed the late Patriarch Alexy II.

"Although conditions were improving before that, expectations have been largely justified thanks to the new patriarch's stance," Fr Kovalevsky said.

The Vatican and Russia exchanged diplomatic envoys in 1990 following a historic Rome visit by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Closer ties were believed impeded by repeated Orthodox complaints that Catholics were trying to recruit their believers, as well as by Orthodox objections to the February 2002 creation of four Catholic dioceses in Russia.



Two days ago, there was this report which did not look so good for the Catholic Church in Russia....Altohough, since the Russian Orthodox Church is so jealously protective of its prerogatives, including presumed ones such as deciding that the Catholic Church cannot establish dicoeses in Russia, it is understandable they would limit religious instruction in Christianity only to their own.


Russia to teach four religions
for children under 10,
but not Catholicism





MOSCOW, JULY 24, 2009 (Zenit.org).- In a move welcomed by the Orthodox Church, Russia is introducing religion classes in its schools, but Catholicism is not one of the four creeds to be taught.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill praised the initiative announced Tuesday by President Dimitri Medvedev, which programs a choice of classes on Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism or Judaism, or on a combination of these four creeds, or on secular ethics.

Medvedev explained that children under 10 in 12,000 schools of Russia's 18 regions would receive these classes.

Patriarch Kirill praised the proposal: "All of the worries that society expressed will be taken care of with this free choice."

The Russian Orthodox Church has been encouraging the proposal to teach religion in schools, though Church and state are officially separate. Three years ago, some regions took up the proposal and began offering classes on Russian Orthodoxy.

Medvedev pointed to the choice between classes as a response to nonbelievers who opposed the plan.

"Any coercion or pressure would be absolutely inacceptable and counterproductive," he affirmed. And he added that the proposal is "only" for the four creeds mentioned.

The pilot program to begin next year will cover some 20% of Russian schools.

It is calculated that some 80% of Russians are members of the Orthodox Church, though perhaps only as many as 15% to 20% are practicing.

Some minority Christians have lamented being excluded from the program to teach religion in schools.


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/07/2009 03:18]
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