A Russian Orthodox Church spokesman voiced hope Thursday for improving relations with the Vatican following President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Pope John Paul II, but he said nothing about the prospect of a papal visit.
The Rev. Vsevolod Chaplin said some officials in the Vatican favor normalizing ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, and Wednesday's meeting between Putin and the pope could strengthen their positions.
"We know that there are people in the Vatican who show good will toward our church," Chaplin said, according to the Interfax news agency. "We hope that this attitude will prevail, and the Vatican policy will stop bringing us unpleasant surprises."
Chaplin said relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican were "almost ideal" in the 1960s and 1970s, "but they suffered a great loss when Catholic missionaries decided they could cultivate Russia as a spiritual desert."
Disagreements between the Russian Orthodox Church, the dominant Christian faith in Russia, and the Vatican have deep historical roots. But tensions have increased markedly after communist restrictions on religion ended along with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Roman Catholic Church has sought to recover churches that belonged to it before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and has attracted new followers in Russia since 1991. Still, the Catholic flock in Russia remains tiny, about 600,000 people out of a population of 145 million.
The Russian Orthodox Church has accused Catholics of poaching converts in Russia and other traditionally Orthodox lands in the former Soviet Union. It says it won't agree to a papal visit until the Catholics stop missionary activities and withdraw claims to disputed church property in western Ukraine.
In a gesture of reconciliation during his meeting Wednesday with Putin, John Paul had his aides bring into the Vatical Library the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan — which is revered by Russian believers and usually hangs in the pope's private chapel.
John Paul has said he wants to return the icon as a gift to the Russian people, but he did not give it to Putin to take home.
The Interfax news agency reported Thursday that Putin conveyed greetings from Russian Patriarch Alexy II to the pope. The president later called the patriarch to inform him of the meeting's results, it said.