MOSCOW - The Russian Orthodox Church lashed out at the Vatican again Tuesday, saying its reply to a letter meant to straighten out strained relations showed that the Roman Catholic Church is unwilling to stop trying to convert people on what the Russian church considers its territory.
In a statement on its Web site, the Russian Orthodox Church said "the Catholic Church has not changed its course in relation to the Orthodox population of Russia and other countries" in the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose union of former Soviet republics.
The Orthodox church criticized what it said was a reply from Cardinal Walter Kasper, a top Vatican official, and Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, the leader of Russia's Roman Catholic community, to a letter outlining Orthodox complaints about what it says are Vatican efforts to convert Orthodox believers.
The reply "bears witness to a major difference in the views of the two churches on the same facts," the statement said. "All of this not only hinders but dooms to failure our dialogue with the Vatican."
The Russian Orthodox Church did not provide a copy of the Vatican reply, and a call to its press office was not immediately returned. In Rome, the Vatican press office said it did not have a copy and Kasper's office was closed.
In early July, Kasper said that while he took issue with some of the complaints in a letter from the Russian church, he took it as a sign that dialogue could resume after months of recriminations.
In its statement, the Orthodox church said Catholic leaders "insist on their church's right to 'preach the gospel to all people.'"
"From the experience of recent years we know that this means missionary work with the aim of converting the maximum possible number of people to Catholicism, including those that belong to Orthodoxy by baptism or by national and cultural tradition," it said.
The Catholic Church insists it is not seeking converts, but simply trying to provide pastoral services to Russia's estimated 600,000 Catholics, a tiny minority in a nation of 144 million where two-thirds of the population consider themselves Orthodox.
Pope John Paul II has made the improvement of relations with Orthodox Christians a goal of his papacy, but the growing dispute has scuttled his plans and made his dream of a Russia visit extremely unlikely.
Relations between the two churches soured further this year when the Catholic Church upgraded its four "apostolic administrations" in Russia to full-fledged dioceses, which the Orthodox leadership saw as an expansion bid. The Vatican said it was meant to improve pastoral services for Catholics in Russia.
In Tuesday's statement, the Orthodox church also criticized the Vatican's decision to establish two new dioceses in Ukraine.
"The actions of the Catholic side, despite all their announcements, speak eloquently of its intention to spread its influence eastward. Such a policy ... can have no other result but mistrust and estrangement between our churches," it said.