Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II has repeated his insistence that a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI should only take place after adequate preparation-- and after the Vatican has complied with demands from the Moscow patriarchate to curb Catholic "proselytism" in the historically Orthodox countries of eastern Europe. Speaking in Moscow, the Orthodox prelate charged that Catholic clergy and religious still maintain "an ultimate goal of proselytism among the Orthodox population" in Russia, the Interfax news service reports. Catholic officials have repeatedly denied such a goal.
Before setting up a meeting with the Pope, Patriarch Alexei said, "those difficulties we have faced since the 1990s should be overcome." Since the fall of the Communist regime, the Moscow patriarchate has complained about the activities of Catholic missionaries in the lands of the former Soviet Union.
Catholic Church leaders explain that missionary workers aim not to convert Orthodox believers, but to attract the vast majority of Russian people who are not currently active in any church.
But the Moscow patriarchate takes the stand that the Russian people are Orthodox, even if they do not attend any church servives. On the basis of that position, Patriarch Alexei rejected what he saw as the Catholic belief "that Russia is a missionary field for the Roman Catholic Church."
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