RUSSIA: Russia's Prime Minister said yesterday that Pope John Paul II may soon become the first pontiff to visit Russia. However, a wary Orthodox Church quickly warned the Vatican the two faiths were still a long way from healing their bitter rift.
"I hope it's possible that John Paul will visit Russia soon," said Mr Mikhail Kasyanov. "The government of Russia and Italy will work towards removing the concerns that hinder co-operation between the two churches."
After meeting Mr Kasyanov in Rome last week, Italian Prime Minister Mr Silvio Berlusconi said he might meet the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church to help facilitate the Pope's long-standing ambition to visit Russia.
Reports from the Vatican this month said Pope John Paul might stop off in the Russian city of Kazan on his way to Mongolia in August. Rome has pledged to return the Orthodox icon, Our Lady of Kazan, in the near future.
But Orthodox officials reacted coolly to the reports, repeating long-standing accusations that the Catholic Church here was trying to convert Orthodox believers, and demanding an end to alleged oppression of Orthodox followers in strongly Catholic western Ukraine.
"Both sides favour resolving their problems through cooperation between the two churches, but we are a very long way from really resolving these problems," Mr Vsevolod Chaplin, a spokesman for the Moscow patriarchy, said yesterday.
Several Catholic priests were expelled from Russia in the last year, for what Moscow called visa irregularities. The Vatican has complained of discrimination against its followers.