Pope John Paul, aiming to improve ties with Russia's Orthodox Church and possibly pave the way for a papal trip, sent an icon dear to Russians on its way back to Moscow on Wednesday after nearly a century in the West.
At an elaborate ceremony in the Vatican tinged with Byzantine chants used in the Russian Church, the Pope gave the icon of the "Mother of God of Kazan" to a delegation that will take it to Russia on Friday after public veneration in Rome.
The traditional Byzantine gold and wood icon, which depicts the Madonna and Child, is a venerated 17th or 18th century copy of the original 16th century image, which has gone missing.
The Polish Pope has kept the ornate icon, which measures 31 by 26 cm (12 by 10 inches) and is decorated with precious stones, above his desk since 1993 and has said that it has guided his daily work.
The icon was believed to have been smuggled out of Russia in the early 20th century and the 84-year-old Pope, who appeared in relatively good condition at the ceremony, said he believed divine providence had brought it to the Vatican.
The "Blue Army," a conservative Catholic group established after the 1917 Russian Revolution with the aim of keeping religion alive under communism, donated it to him.
The Pope said he hoped the return of the icon, which the delegation will give to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II, would help reconciliation between the two churches.
AN ICON AND A PRAYER
"Tell him (Alexiy) of the firm desire of the Pope of Rome to move ahead together with them on the reciprocal path of understanding and reconciliation, to hasten the day of full unity among Christians....," he said.
A priest read a prayer the Pope had written in Russian. The Pope blessed and kissed the icon before giving it to Cardinal Walter Kasper, the German head of the Vatican's department for Christian unity who is leading the delegation.
The Eastern and Western branches of Christianity split in the Great Schism of 1054 and the Pope, the first Slav pontiff in history, has made great strides in improving relations with several national Orthodox Churches.
The Pope has a standing invitation from a succession of Russian presidents, including Vladimir Putin, to visit Russia.
But his desire to travel to the home of the largest and most influential Church of world Orthodoxy has been stymied.
Last year the Vatican had started the initial planning for a papal trip to Mongolia, with a stopover in Kazan, some 800 km (500 miles) east of Moscow, so the Pope could return the icon personally. But Alexiy vetoed the idea.
Alexiy has accused the Catholic Church in areas of the former Soviet Union of using its new-found freedoms after the fall of communism to poach believers from the Orthodox.
Relations between the Vatican and the Orthodox in former Soviet states have also been strained by the return to Catholics of church property that had been confiscated during the rule of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and given the Orthodox.