Meeting between Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk and secretary of State of the Holy See takes places in Vatican

Source: DECR
Natalya Mihailova | 19 September 2016
On 15 September 2016, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, met with Pietro Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See. Discussed at the meeting, which took place in the Vatican, were some topical issues of international politics.
Meeting between Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk and secretary of State of the Holy See takes places in Vatican
Photo: https://mospat.ru

The participants focused on the situation of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa suffering at the hands of terrorists. Both Metropolitan Hilarion and Cardinal Pietro Parolin consider the situation difficult, but hope that the negotiations between high-ranking officials of Russia and the USA will yield their good fruit. The representatives of the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches noted with satisfaction that some practical steps had been made to implement the decisions taken during the meeting of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Francis of Rome in Havana this February. For instance, the DECR chairman and the Vatican’s Secretary of State emphasized the importance of the visit of representatives of the two Churches to Lebanon and Syria in April 2016, to hold consultations with local Christian communities with the view of setting up joint humanitarian projects.

Speaking about the situation in Ukraine, the participants in the meeting noted the efforts of the two Churches to re-establish peace in the country. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence, both His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and His Holiness Pope Francis called for reconciliation in the longsuffering Ukrainian land. Metropolitan Hilarion and Cardinal Pietro Parolin agreed that it was necessary to continue the peacemaking efforts aimed at overcoming the conflict, in compliance with the Joint Declaration signed in Havana inviting “Churches in Ukraine to work towards social harmony” (par. 26).

Since you are here…

…we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong.

Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable.

For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir.

If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life's purpose, family and society.