Metropolitan Hilarion on evangelisation and reconciliation

(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI met on Tuesday with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department for External Church Relations to discuss common challenges, ecumenical developments and a recent landmark agreement between Moscow and the Polish Catholic Church. The Pope’s meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk came just after the Russian Orthodox archbishop delivered an address to the Synod of Bishops meeting in the Vatican to discuss the new evangelisation needed to revitalise the Church, half a century on from the Second Vatican Council.Speaking with Vatican Radio’s Philippa Hitchen, Metropolitan Hilarion shared details of his conversation with the Pope, of his own Church’s efforts at a new evangelisation and of the importance of reconciliation with the Polish Catholic Church…..  His Holiness was curious about what is happening in Russia….he posed many questions about teaching of religion in schools and the opening of theology faculties in some secular universities…I shared with him information about the life of the Russian Orthodox Church and the new evangelisation we are practising in the Russian Federation….. We also spoke about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and other parts of the world….and we also talked about the development of relations between Catholics and Orthodox, in particular the development of theological exchanges because since my last meeting with the Pope, I have also been appointed chairman of the Synod’s Biblical and Theological Commission…