Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Pope meets with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion

Pope Francis met on Tuesday with Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Later this evening a "Concert for Peace" in honor of Pope Francis, will be offered by the Russian Orthodox Church, with music sung by a young Russian opera singer, Svetlana Kasyan, at the Auditorium in Via della Conciliazione.

The Pope’s meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion comes as the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Angelo Scola, is in Moscow, meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.

Exploring Orthodox spirituality and promoting reconciliation between Catholics and Orthodox is also the focus of life at a Benedictine monastery in Belgium, commonly known as Chevetogne Abbey. 

Founded in the 1920s, the monastery holds both Latin and Eastern rite services every day and runs the world’s oldest ecumenical journal entitled ‘Irenikon’.