Scottish Catholic Observer

By Stephen Reilly

Pope Benedict XVI has said a meeting in Poland between the leaders of Russia’s Orthodox church and Poland’s Catholic hierarchy gives him ‘hope for the future.’

The Holy Father praised the goodwill efforts by Orthodox Patriarch Kirill (right) and Archbishop Jozef Michalik (far right) who met in a ceremony in Warsaw last Friday. The Pope, speaking to Polish pilgrims at his summer residence near Rome on Sunday, said that both sides declared their desire to work together to spread evangelical values at an ‘important event, which raises hope for the future.’

Past wrongs

The leaders of Russia’s Orthodox church and Poland’s Catholic Church signed a document last Friday that urges their nations to forgive each other for past wrongs in the hope of healing the two countries traditionally hostile relationship.

The document stated a common declaration of desire to grow the fraternal union and to collaborate in spreading the Gospel values in the contemporary world, in the spirit of faith in Christ Jesus The signing in Warsaw during the first visit to Poland by a Russia patriarch was described by the churches as a historic act of reconciliation and the establishment of a bridge between the denominations.

“We appeal to our believers to ask for the forgiveness of wrongs, injustice and every evil committed against each other,” the document said. “We are certain that this is the first and the most important step toward rebuilding mutual trust, which is a necessary element of a lasting community and full reconciliation between people.”

The document that the patriarch and archbishop signed mentions the ‘open enmity, even fighting between our nations’ in the past and calls for a ‘brotherly dialogue’ in all walks of life. Church leaders said it was a religion-motivated call to the hearts and minds of ordinary people in both nations.

Reconciliation

Patriarch Kirill stressed that serving the Christian religion obliged church leaders to promote the reconciliation. The document has been compared to a historic 1965 letter by Poland’s bishops to the Catholic Church leaders in Germany, offering and asking forgiveness for past wrongs between Poles and Germans, especially during the Second World War.

The many sources of bitterness between Poles and Russians include Polish resentment over Moscow’s control of Poland during the communist era and Russia’s reaction to seeing Poland reject its influence and join Western institutions, such as NATO.

Elderly Poles still talk bitterly about Moscow’s ‘stab in the back’—the attack from the East by the Soviet Red Army on September 17, 1939, which came less than three weeks after German troops invaded Poland from the West, starting the Second World War. They point to the murders of more than 20,000 of their officers by Soviet secret police in 1940. Relations between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church have also been tense. The Orthodox Church prevented Polish-born Pope John Paul II from making a trip to Russia.

Poland’s government official in charge of discussing the sticking points with Russia, Adam Daniel Rotfeld, said the document signed last Friday also laid foundations for an improvement in relations between the two churches in general.