Department for External Church Relations
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His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia meets with Cardinal Paul Poupard, Honorary President of the Pontifical Council for Culture
On 1 November 2012, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with Cardinal Paul Poupard, Honorary President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, who has arrived in Moscow to take part in the symposium on “The New Grand Anti-Crisis Strategy. Social and Moral Dimension.” They were joined in the meeting that took place at the Patriarch’s residence in St. Daniel’s Monastery in Moscow, by Giuseppe Musumeci, president of the Cardinal Paul Poupard Foundation, Mr. Ferdinando Pelazzo, head of the UBI Banca Representation Office in Moscow, hegumen Philaret (Bulekov), vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), and deacon Alexy Dikarev, a staff member of the DECR secretariat for inter-Christian relations.
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The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church warmly welcome the guests, saying, “Your Eminence, me dear guests, I am happy to meet with you. This is our third meeting in Moscow, at which we will discuss very important ethical problems appearing in modern economics, including banking. This bilateral discussion is helpful both to professionals and the Churches for which ethical problems are essential.”
His Holiness believes that economic crisis demands close attention of churches. “Economic crisis affects mostly the unprotected strata of the population, in other words, the majority of our parishioners, as coming to church are people who find themselves in a difficult situation and need support. Our response to them should be not only moral support, but should be accompanied by something more substantial. We must comfort people, but also state the principal position of the Church,” His Holiness said.
He told the guests how the Russian Orthodox Church raises money for those who need aid, for instance, in Greece. “Compared with the scale of calamities, this aid is symbolic, but it has moral and psychological meaning. Therefore, we should carry out expert analysis of the situation,” His Holiness added.
Cardinal Paul Poupard agreed with the importance of such a dialogue, as the economic crisis has told on the social and ethical life of society.
He added that the Church makes common cause with the needy in this difficult economic situation.
His Eminence mentioned his visit to the Church Postgraduate School where he delivered a lecture on faith and culture in the modern secular society.
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