The Vatican hopes that a meeting between the heads of the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church will occur under the Churches' current leaders, a Vatican representative said today (May 20, 2010).
"We are open to this meeting and hope it will become possible during the current pontificate. But we should respect the opinion of the other side; we do not want to and cannot push for it," Cardinal Walter Kasper, the head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told RIA Novosti (Russian) website.
"I think this meeting will become possible because it is in the interest of both churches. Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Kirill understand each other very well, are close to each other," he said.
As a result of the Great Schism of 1054, the Christian Church became divided into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church). Although the Orthodox and Catholic Churches have been experiencing an unprecedented harmonious relationship in recent years, the two Churches still have a few major theological and social differences upon which they must agree before they can unite into one Christian Church.
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