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2009-05-22 - Spotting what it sees as a distinctively positive trend in relations between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches, an analytical piece for the New York Times speculates that the goal of a summit meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow may be within reach. Metropolitan Hilarion of Vienna, a major spokesman for the Moscow patriarchate in ecumenical affairs, destroys some preconceptions about ecumenism when offers a revealing perspective on why such a summit meeting seems more likely for this pontificate: "This pope, in contrast to the previous one, doesn’t strive to always be politically correct… He believes he must speak of the teachings of the Catholic church. The task of such a church figure, especially of such rank, is to clearly state the teaching of the church, even if it doesn’t correspond to contemporary standards of political correctness."

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• Relations Warms Between Russian Orthodox Church and Vatican (New York Times)