Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the department for external Church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, has welcomed the appointment of Bishop Kurt Koch of Basel as the new president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.With the appointment, Bishop Koch has been raised to the dignity of an archbishop.
Calling Archbishop Koch “a zealous pastor and serious theologian committed to the tradition of the early Church and the idea of Christian unity,” Metropolitan Hilarion said in a message that “I hope that new prospects for cooperation have been opened for us for the benefit of the both Churches.”
“Thanks in no small degree to your predecessors as presidents of the [pontifical] council, constructive relations have been developed between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church,” he added.
SIC: CC