MOSCOW - The leader of Russia's Roman Catholic community said Thursday that he saw a positive change in recent comments by Russia's Orthodox patriarch about the possibility of a papal visit to Russia.
"There's a small difference. Before, he said they couldn't meet until all the problems were resolved. Now, he's saying they can meet in order to solve the problems," Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz told The Associated Press.
In an interview published Wednesday, Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II said he was ready to meet with Pope John Paul II, but only if they were certain of closing deep divisions separating the faiths.
"I have said more than once that I am prepared to meet with the pope, but it would have to be a meeting that really allows us to solve the problems," the Gazeta newspaper quoted Alexy as saying.
Alexy has repeatedly rejected the pontiff's desire to visit Russia, accusing the Catholic Church of aggressively proselytizing on Orthodox territory and citing continuing disputes over church property in western Ukraine.
Relations soured even further when the Vatican announced the creation of four formal dioceses in Russia earlier this year.
Kondrusiewicz said he planned to fly to Italy on Friday but expected no progress in the case of a Catholic priest, Stefano Caprio, who has been barred from returning to Russia for unexplained reasons.
"It's not just a punishment for this individual, but for the Russian citizens who are his parishioners" in the towns of Vladimir and Ivanovo, Kondrusiewicz told reporters.
About two-thirds of Russia's 144 million inhabitants are Russian Orthodox. There are approximately 600,000 Catholics.