Vatican’s condolence for late Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexy II

(December 5, 2008) The Vatican has expressed profound sadness at the death of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, who passed away on Friday. He was 79. The Moscow Patriarchate said he died at his residence outside Moscow, but did not give a cause of death. Patriarch Alexy became leader of the church in 1990, as the officially atheist Soviet Union was loosening its restrictions on religion. Cardinal Walter Kasper, who heads the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for promoting Christian Unity sent a message of condolence to the patriarchate saying, “Patriarch Alexy was called to guide the Russian Orthodox Church in a period of great change, and his leadership has enabled that Church to face the challenges of transition from the Soviet era to the present with renewed interior vitality.” “He was instrumental in fostering the enormous growth of dioceses, parishes, monasteries and educational institutions which have given new life to a Church sorely tested for so long,” Cardinal Kasper recalled. Patriarch Alexy bitterly resented what he said were attempts by other Christian churches to poach adherents among people who he said should have belonged to the Orthodox church. These complaints focused on the Roman Catholic Church, and Alexy refused to agree to a papal visit to Russia unless the proselytization issue was resolved. However, Cardinal Kasper recalled, the Patriarch’s “personal commitment to improving relations with the Catholic Church, in spite of the difficulties and tensions which from time to time have emerged, has never been in doubt.”