The meeting of Pope Francis with Metropolitan Hilarion –the not first– ran concurrent today with Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan meeting in Moscow with Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. Francis like Benedict, and with Hilarion and Kirill there is a substantial commitment to good fraternal relations with various members of the Orthodox Church which is really fantastic.
Vatican Radio’s Philippa Hitchen spoke with one of the editors of the journal, Irenikon, Benedictine Father Thaddeus Barnas of Chevetogne Abbey, whose founding by the famed Dom Lambert Beauduin following the 1924 encourage of Pope Pius XI which focussed on the Orthodox spirituality and promoting reconciliation between Catholics and Orthodox. The Benedictines monks seek the face of God, and they work for ecumenical connections from the standpoint of prayer, study and fraternal relations. Listen to the interview with Father Thaddeus.