The Vatican and Russia Back Together

The Roman Catholic Vatican and Russian Orthodox Church have had decades of mistrust between them. The Russian Orthodox Church has always accused the Vatican of trying to convert Russians to Catholicism. While the Vatican maintains that all it does is towards the betterment of the Catholic minorities in Russia like the Poles, Germans and Lithuanians. And it says that these sections of society have faced a lot of persecution, discrimination, and many hardships all along. There have also been numerous property differences between the two churches, which made matters only worse. Both the sides have maintained representation only below the rank of an ambassador, and Moscow had just an office of representation present at the Vatican.

But since December 2008, when Patriarch Alexiy II passed away, and Metropolitan Kirill took over as leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, relations between the two have improved considerably. President Dmitry Medvedev met up with Pope Benedict XVI while on a visit to Italy. This was largely made possible due to vast improvements in the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican. And then came a great announcement by the Kremlin - The Vatican and Russia have agreed to establish full diplomatic relations between themselves. This new status is a very welcome move and will mean that full-fledged embassies will be established in Moscow and Rome.

President Dmitry Medvedev told Pope Benedict XVI that he had signed a decree regarding the establishment of full diplomatic relations with the Vatican. He also asked his foreign ministry to lead discussions and make sure to establish full relations. So now let's hope for better times ahead for both Russia and the Vatican, together.