Great again

The Russian Orthodox Church will never recognize the current status of Catholic dioceses in Russia, said the head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad.

“We will never agree and will constantly challenge the presence of ordinary dioceses of the Catholic Church on the territory of Russia and consider this a challenge to our common idea of ​​​​adherence to the territorial principle of church governance,” said as

Interfax, Bishop at a church-scientific conference in Moscow.

In 2002, the Vatican decided to raise the level of the structures of the Catholic Church that existed in Russia in the status of apostolic administrations to the level of dioceses, which caused a protest from the Russian Orthodox Church. “We consider what happened to be a mistake that causes real damage to the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue and delays the possibility of us achieving common goals,” said Metropolitan Kirill, commenting on the events of 2002.

He called the arguments of opponents of the Moscow Patriarchate in this dispute illegitimate, claiming that the Russian Church in Europe also has its own dioceses, organized on the same principle as the Catholic dioceses in Russia. “The dioceses of the Moscow Patriarchate in the diaspora are not ordinary. They are not associated with local jurisdiction. They were created for the pastoral care of people in the diaspora, they do not have strictly defined boundaries. These are in a sense unusual dioceses, and we constantly emphasize this in dialogue with Catholics," the Metropolitan explained. According to him, if the canon law of the Orthodox Church had the concept of apostolic administration, the dioceses of the Moscow Patriarchate in Europe would be called that. “But we only have the concept of a diocese, that is, a diocese,” added Bishop Kirill. Therefore, the Metropolitan continued, the status of Catholic dioceses in Russia “would be good to change, returning it to the previous level of apostolic administrations.”

A strange and unexpected statement: recently it seemed that the dialogue between Orthodox Christians and Catholics was gaining momentum. Obviously, this is not so, obviously, the Orthodox are dissatisfied with the results of the “interviews” (perhaps the Moscow Patriarchate expected a more definite position from Catholics in disputes with Constantinople?), since they are ready to jeopardize the balance achieved with such difficulty.