Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity congratulates new Pat. of Moscow
& All Russia expresses hope for unity.

(Jan.29,2009): Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity on Wednesday, rejoiced and congratulated Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, on his election as the new Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. The announcement of the election was made Tuesday evening, after votes were counted by the Local Council, which met in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral. The 62-year-old Patriarch, who. received 508 ballots out of 702 votes cast is the successor of Patriarch Alexy II who died last month.
A communiqué from Vatican’s Pontifical Council said : - “We are happy to have a Patriarch, with whom we have had fraternal relations for many years, and we hope to be able to continue on the common path of reciprocal understanding, which we have begun. We are aware of the difficulties that still remain,” continued the communiqué, “but we are ready to cooperate in the social and cultural field and to be witnesses of Christian values, without however, forgetting the ultimate scope of dialogue for the realization of the testament of Jesus Christ, – the full unity of all his disciples. We pray that God bestow on the new Patriarch abundant blessings and guide him with the gift of strength and wisdom “, said the communiqué .
Born 20^th November 1946 in Saint-Petersburg (then Leningrad), the new patriarch is the son of an Orthodox priest. He has headed the external relations department of the world’s largest Orthodox Church for nearly 20 years. He met with Pope Benedict XVI in December 2007.
After the announcement of his election, the new Patriarch bowed and asked the clergy to be indulgent for his weaknesses, help him with wise advice and to be close to him, as he performed his pastoral duties, and most of all he said, “ I ask you always to pray for me”.
The Russian Orthodox Church counts in its congregation more than 100 million people in Russia and tens of millions elsewhere. But polls showed that only about 5% of Russians are observant believers.