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
20th 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.