In Historic Move, Pope to Meet With Leader of Russian Orthodox Church
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO and JIM YARDLEY

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will travel to Cuba on Feb. 12 for a historic meeting with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, the first meeting between a pope and the Russian patriarch, the Vatican announced on Friday.

For Francis, the meeting is the result of delicate and sustained diplomacy, some of which began decades ago under Pope John Paul II, and it is another milestone in his efforts to reconcile the Roman Catholic Church with Eastern Orthodox churches. The Western and Eastern branches of Christianity split nearly 1,000 years ago.

The breakthrough also highlights Francis’s ties to Cuba, as President Raúl Castro “was involved in organizing the meeting,” the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said at a news conference.

“The encounter has been under preparation for a long time — it wasn’t improvised,” Father Lombardi said.

He said discussions had been underway “for at least two years,” and the fact that both leaders planned to be in Latin America created the possibility of a “neutral place” for a meeting.

Francis was already planning to travel to Mexico next Friday for a six-day visit. Now, his plane will stop at José Martí International Airport in Havana, where the pope and Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, are expected to hold a private, two-hour meeting.

The two men will then release a joint declaration before Francis continues to Mexico City. Patriarch Kirill was already scheduled to be in Cuba for an official visit.

The pace of reconciliation between Russia, the largest country in the world, and the Vatican, the smallest, has been swift. The two agreed to establish formal diplomatic relations only at the end of 2009, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia met Francis in June 2015, in what was seen as a break of Russia’s isolation from the West over the Ukraine crisis..

Since the beginning of his papacy in 2013, Francis has worked to reconcile divisions in Christianity that trace to the Great Schism of 1054, which formally divided the Eastern Orthodox and Western churches. Francis already has ties to other Orthodox leaders, especially with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, considered the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians.

But the Russian Orthodox Church has long resisted overtures from the Vatican. John Paul II tried but failed to arrange a meeting with its leaders, and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, also did not meet the patriarch.

Much of the friction seems to have been the product of a territorial dispute, as Russian Orthodox leaders have accused the Roman Catholic Church of proselytizing in Russia and Ukraine, effectively encroaching on Orthodox turf. Even in announcing the meeting, the Russian Patriarchate said in a statement on its website that differences over church policy in Ukraine remained a “bleeding wound.”

A separate statement, issued jointly by the Moscow Patriarchate and the Holy See, expressed delight over the meeting, calling it “an important stage in relations between the two churches.” Both parties hoped the event would be seen as “a sign of hope for all people,” the statement said.

The Russian church also cited in its statement the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa as an incentive to try to heal past divisions.

“It is necessary to put aside internal disagreements and unite efforts for saving Christianity in the regions where it is subjected to the most severe persecution,” the statement read.

Alberto Melloni, a Vatican historian, also noted that the Cuba meeting has meaningful geopolitical implications, because it comes at a time when the United States and Europe diplomats are working to isolate Russia.

The Russian church is closely aligned with the Russian government, Mr. Melloni said, and the meeting with the pope would have required permission from Mr. Putin. Signing off on the meeting allows the Russian president to show the different avenues he can use to avoid isolation, Mr. Melloni said.

“For Putin, it is a good result,” he said. “It is very geopolitical.”

Francis is proving to be an ambitious, diplomatic actor on the world stage. He helped broker the reconciliation between the United States and Cuba, and won the regard of Mr. Castro, the Cuban president. Mr. Castro, in turn, helped arrange plans for the meeting next week.

Francis is also moving aggressively to complete another long-held Vatican goal — the restoration of diplomatic ties with China. Francis has spoken of his desire to become the first pope to visit mainland China.

This week, Francis used an interview with Asia Times, an English-language online publication in Hong Kong, to convey his greetings for the Lunar New Year and to offer reassurances that a rising China should not be regarded as a threat.

“For me, China has always been a reference point of greatness,” Francis said in the interview. “A great country. But more than a country, a great culture, with an inexhaustible wisdom.”

千年大和解 教宗、俄羅斯大主教下周古巴見

羅馬天主教與俄羅斯東正教5日宣布，天主教教宗方濟各和俄羅斯東正教領袖祈偉義大主教下周將於古巴會面，將是天主教和俄羅斯東正教領袖有史以來首次會晤，而這歷史性的一步將使分裂達千年之久的兩個教會關係獲得療癒。

根據一項聯合聲明，方濟各預計2月12日至18日訪墨西哥，往訪途中將於12日在古巴首都哈瓦那機場小停，跟祈偉義會面，屆時雙方將簽署一項聯合聲明。

這兩個教會在1054年的「大分裂」期間時分裂，自此因為一系列問題而始終關係疏遠，這些問題包括教宗是否應居首要地位，以及俄羅斯東正教指責天主教教會在俄羅斯挖走了教徒。

這些緊張上的關係使得過去的教宗無法與俄羅斯東正教的主教會面，教廷方面一向堅稱，在屬東正教勢力的地區教廷做的只是照顧居少數的天主教徒的需要。

不過，中東與非洲地區內的基督徒不分天主教與東正教均遭迫害，卻拉近了兩個教會的距離。

方濟各在2014年11月時表示他已告訴祈偉義：「你想去哪，我就去哪。你叫我，我就會去。」祈偉義將在古巴進行正式訪問。

這場會面代表著教廷方面長久以來致力彌合雙方裂痕的重大發展，這兩個教會稱會面「代表雙方關係進入重要階段。羅馬教廷與莫斯科東正教主教希望對於所有善良的人來說，會面也是個希望的跡象。他們邀請所有基督徒熱切祈求上帝保佑這次會面，並祈求會獲得好的結果。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/world/europe/pope-francis-cuba-russian-orthodox-church.html

Video：The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's spokesman, described plans for Pope Francis to meet Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church in Cuba on Feb. 12.
http://nyti.ms/23PgqMo

2016-02-06．聯合報．A17．國際．編譯陳韋廷