ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE – Pope Francis said on Monday, December 6, he was willing to go to Moscow for to meet Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill “brother to brother” in what would be the first trip by a pope to Russia.

The pair’s meeting in Cuba in 2016 was the first by a pope and a leader of the Russian Orthodox Church since the great schism that split Christianity into Eastern and Western branches in 1054.

Both sides have declared a willingness to work towards unity but they are still far apart theologically and over what role the pope would play in an eventually reunited Church.

“We are brothers and we talk straight to each other. We do not dance the minuet,” Pope Francis told reporters aboard his plane returning from a trip to Cyprus and Greece.

“We have to move forward, walking and working towards unity.”

He said he was willing to go Moscow and that a top Russian Orthodox official was expected in Rome next week to decide the time and location of the meeting.

Francis said working out the protocols would be less important than meeting “brother to brother” with Kirill.

The Pope normally travels to countries with a joint invitation from its religious authorities as well as one from
the government, meaning that Francis would most likely need an invitation from President Vladimir Putin to visit Russia.

The Russian Orthodox Church, the largest in Christian Orthodoxy, with about 100 million members, is closely aligned
with the Kremlin.

Francis said the meeting with Kirill was “on the not too distant horizon”.

He said Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, who is responsible for the Russian Orthodox Church’s external relations, would be coming to the Vatican to meet him to discuss where and when the next meeting can take place.

Pope Francis explains accepting resignation

Meanwhile, Pope Francis said that he had accepted the resignation of Paris archbishop Michel Aupetit not because he had sinned but because the gossip about him had left him in a position where he could no longer govern the diocese.

Speaking to reporters on a plane returning to Rome from a trip to Cyprus and Greece, Francis said sins of the flesh were certainly sins but not as great as sins such as hatred and pride and that the bishop had been the victim of “an injustice”.

Aupetit asked for forgiveness after reports over a relationship with a woman. The 70-year-old cleric, who is bound
by the Church’s celibacy rule, has denied any intimate relationship with the unnamed woman, though he acknowledged his behavior may have been ambiguous.

“It was a failing against the sixth commandment (You shall not commit adultery) but not a total one, one of small caresses, massage given to his secretary – that is what the accusation is,” Francis said. “There is a sin there but not the worst kind.”

He said everyone was a sinner, including himself. “He (the bishop) was condemned but by whom? By public opinion, by gossip… he could no longer govern.”

“I accepted the resignation of Aupetit not on the altar of truth, but on the altar of hypocrisy,” he said.

Francis said he still did not have all the details of the case and expected to get them from French bishops when they
visit the Vatican soon to discuss a recent report on clerical sexual abuse in the country. – Rappler.com