On February 16, 2016, in San Marti airport in Havana, Cuba, Pope Francis met Patriarch Kirill. Every year since then, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity has honored the anniversary with a meeting based on common themes in venues alternately chosen by Moscow and Rome.
Last year, for example, the anniversary was marked by pilgrimages to Paris, where the two delegations could even venerate the Crown of Thorns. In 2021, there was a pandemic and a specific difficulty in traveling, but the meeting still took place online, and the perspectives and challenges arising from the pandemic were discussed. In 2020, the theme of the meeting was “Saints: Seeds and Signs of Unity.” In 2019, the gathering focused on the defense of life. In 2018 the debate was on the Middle East as a place of ecumenical practice. In 2017, the state of ecumenical relations was discussed, and the issue of Ukraine also came up.
This year, however, there was no mention of the anniversary, a detail that may seem trivial but gives a sense of the situation. There was no news of a joint celebration of the anniversary of the first meeting between a Pope and a Patriarch of Moscow. This indicates that the relations between the Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow have become more difficult.
The topic of Ukraine has cyclically reappeared in the discussions between Moscow and Rome, and today it clearly is the key point of division between the two parties: ties that are no longer as open as they once were. The head of the Department of External Relations in Moscow has changed, and Metropolitan Hilarion no longer holds the role.
On several occasions, Metropolitan Antonij has stated that the Pope’s words about his conversation with Kirill on March 6, 2022, did not help the situation – Pope Francis told the Patriarch of Moscow that he was not a “state cleric” – as well as the fact that the Pope not only backed out of a previously planned meeting with the Patriarch in Jerusalem last June but also made it known, again through an interview.
These issues came up in Antonij’s statements while he was with Pope Francis in Kazakhstan, where Patriarch Kirill was supposed to be present but later withdrew.
In September, Antonij was optimistic about a second meeting between Pope Francis and the Patriarch. Still, in a recent interview with Ria Novosti, he appeared more cautious.
He said contact has not been made through official channels, although Moscow says it is still open to a meeting, but there is no news on the matter.
In all of these issues, the commemoration of the Havana meeting has not occurred this year. And, there is no news from either the official channels: the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity or the Patriarchate of Moscow.
It is a sign that things are changing. And that amidst the rubble, the war in Ukraine could bury even the ecumenical dialogue.
