Pope’s message to newly enthroned Russian Orthodox Patriarch

(February 2, 2009) Pope Benedict has expressed his esteem and spiritual closeness with new Russian Orthodox Patriarch on his inauguration on Sunday, hoping the two churches will continue their cooperation in finding ways to foster and strengthen communion among the followers of Christ. Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad was enthroned as the 16^th patriarch the Russian Orthodox Church at an elaborate ceremony on Sunday in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. In a message for the occasion the Pope paid tribute to his predecessor Patriarch Alexy II who died in early December after almost two decades at the helm of Orthodoxy’s largest Church. He particularly commended the late patriarch’s spirit of openness and cooperation with other Christians, particularly the Catholic Church, and for his defence of Christian values in Europe and in the world. “It is my earnest hope that we will continue to cooperate in finding ways to foster and strengthen communion in the Body of Christ, in fidelity to our Saviour’s prayer that all may be one, so that the world may believe,” the Pope wrote. At his enthronement, the 62-year old new Patriarch pledged to keep his church united, recruit the young and open up to dialogue with "sister churches."