Metropolitan Volodymyr Meets with Head of Pontifical Council for Culture Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi

KYIV – On May 27, 2010, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Metropolitan Volodymyr, met with the chair of the Pontifical Council for Culture Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi. 

Taking part in the meeting were the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine Archbishop Ivan Jurkovi? with co-workers of the nunciature and Secretary of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC-MP archpriest Mykolai Danylevych.   

During the meeting Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi described to the primate joint cultural projects between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church. The Vatican representative, as reports the UOC-MP website, also shared positive impressions of the beauty of Kyiv and the Kyiv Cave Monastery.

In his turn, Metropolitan Volodymyr noted that joint cultural projects bring closer and create mutual understanding between the Orthodox and Catholics, and so, in the opinion of the hierarch, the cultural sphere has to be a priority in the relations between the churches.   

In the course of conversation the issue of the possible visit of the pope to Ukraine in 2012 was raised. In response to this Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine Ivan Jurkovi? stated that accepting the invitation by the Roman See does not guarantee that the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Ukraine will take place, and that this issue is still being considered by the Holy See.

In conclusion, Metropolitan Volodymyr offered as a present to the guest discs with records of the Orthodox services and a photo album "The Primate." Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi presented to Metropolitan Volodymyr his book "Song of Solomon" in Ukrainian and the jubilee medal dedicated to the third year of pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.