The Russian Orthodox Church plans to work closely with the Vatican to call attention to the plight of persecuted Christians.Metropolitan Hilarion, the chief external-affairs spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, said that the Moscow patriarchate hopes to “institutionalize the joint work we are doing already,” to make that work more effective.
He said that he is talking with Cardinal Kurt Koch, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, toward that end.
The primary focus of the cooperative effort is the Christian community in the Middle East, Metropolitan Hilarion said.