Department for External Church Relations
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His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of Pontifical Council for the Family
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On 7 December 2012, His Holiness met with Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, who arrived in Moscow to take part in the International Conference on “The Church and the Poor. Orthodox and Catholics at the Service of Charity.”
They were joined in the meeting, which took place at the Patriarchal resident in St. Daniel Monastery, by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR); hegumen Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman; Professor Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Community of Sant’Egidio; and Professor Adriano Rocucci, general secretary of the Community.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church greeted Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia and congratulated him on his appointment as President of the Pontifical Council for the Family and on his elevation to the rank of archbishop. His Holiness also congratulated Professor Adriano Rocucci of the Roma Tre University and general secretary of the Community of Sant’Egidio with the high award conferred to him by the Russian Orthodox Church – the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, 3rd class.
His Holiness said: ‘The topic of the family is a major one in the relations of the Church with the world. As to bilateral relations between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, we can actively cooperate, being of one mind on almost all issues pertaining to the family.’
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church underscored that the Catholics and the Orthodox see the alarming tendencies in contemporary society towards destruction of the institute of the family, including the introduction of certain standards of the juvenile justice, which some people regard as unconstructive and dangerous.
“Besides, we notice a great danger in the attempts to legalize same-sex marriages in some countries,’ he added and went on to say that the Russian Orthodox Church, through the Department for External Church Relations, expressed its support to Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, the Archbishop of Paris, regarding the position of the Catholic Church in France on the legalization of same-sex marriages.’
His Holiness thanked Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia for assistance in settling certain problems of the Orthodox presence in Italy, including the state registration of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Italian Republic.
Archbishop Paglia thanked His Holiness for hospitality and noted that it was his first visit to Moscow as President of the Pontifical Council for the Family. He expressed his confidence in the importance of common witness of the Orthodox and the Catholics in the modern world about preserving the traditional family as a foundation of human society.
Patriarch
Department Chairman
Sermons
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06.11.2020