“The sides also discussed the possibility of a joint fight against secularism and the activity of destructive sects, as well as expressed concern over growing religious indifference in the society,” archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said.

According to him, Alexy II also spoke of a problem of prosely

Ads

tism, in particular missionary activity of Catholics on the Russian territory, which aggravates relations between the two churches.

Chaplin said the aim of a Vatican delegation’s visit to Russia is to unveil in Moscow the cultural center Spiritual Library, set up by western public organizations.

At talks with the patriarch, Paul Poupard stressed the importance of Russian culture, calling it Orthodox culture. Alexy II believes that “it is the language of culture, which often happens to be the most efficient means of a dialogue with the contemporary world, which is swiftly losing spiritual and moral guiding lines”.

Tass has learnt that the Vatican delegation, led by Poupard, will also discuss in Moscow a joint with the Russian Orthodox Church project to publish 100-volume collected works by theologians and religious philosophers of the late 19th – early 20th centuries.

MOSCOW, November 17 (Itar-Tass)