Aid to the Church in Need: Russia - Pope's message to the Russian people meets with warm response

Russia - Pope's message to the Russian people meets with warm response

Posted by ACN News on 27/4/2008, 5:14 pm
Message modified by board administrator 7/8/2008, 1:34 pm

ACN News 27.04.2008

Russia - Pope's message to the Russian people meets with a warm response

Father Joaquín Alliende, the international ecclesiastical assistant and president-elect of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, has expressed his delight at the warm reception of the Holy Father's message to the Russian people, both among the Russian public and in the international press. It was very pleasing, he said, that the papal greeting should have been so well received not only by Catholics in Russia but also by Orthodox believers and by those in non-Church circles.

According to Father Alliende, the Pope's greeting had "sprung from the heartfelt desire of the Holy Father to promote the growth of mutual love between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church", as had been evident right from the start of his pontificate. As ACN's spiritual director, Father Alliende had been received in private audience by the Holy Father on the day the message was filmed and had seen for himself how profoundly convinced Benedict XVI had been that he could in this way convey his esteem and affection for all the people of Russia. The Pope's address to the Russian people, which formed part of a documentary film about the life of Benedict XVI, should be seen as "an important step along the road towards a deeper sense of closeness between Catholic and Orthodox Christians", Father Alliende emphasised.

Peter Humeniuk, ACN's Russia specialist, explained that the documentary film including the papal message had brought the Holy Father closer to many of the Russian people. Viewers had seen the Pope as "a person of great dignity and at the same time kind and warmhearted personality", he said. Many people had been surprised that the Pope was "so human and kind", and many people had found it especially beautiful that the Holy Father had spoken part of his message in Russian, he added.

One Catholic priest working in Eastern Siberia told ACN that he thought the film had been "a real breakthrough" and would undoubtedly "bear fruit for the Church of God in East and West". It was a source of great pleasure for Catholics to know that the film project had also been approved by the Orthodox Church, he said, for this showed what could be achieved when "our Churches draw closer together".

Aid to the Church in Need , which is under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See, sponsored and promoted the film about Pope Benedict XVI. It was first broadcast on April 16, to mark the Pope's birthday, on the Russian State news channel, Vesti.

For further information please contact the Sydney office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web:www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org