Pope of Rome addresses Russian people

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 16, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of a personal address by Benedict XVI to the Russian people, which was broadcast today by the Russian state television channel Vesti. The greeting was in Italian and Russian.

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Dear citizens of the Russian Federation,

I am grateful for the invitation offered me to extend to you my cordial greetings and I gladly take this opportunity to express the esteem, affection and high regard in which the successor of Peter and the Catholic Church have always held your people and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Russia is truly great, in a variety of different ways -- in her sheer geographical scale, in her long history, in her magnificent spirituality, in her multiplicity of artistic expression. During the past century the horizon of your noble land, like that of other regions on the European continent, was obscured by shadows of suffering and violence, shadows that were however opposed and overcome by the splendid light of so many martyrs -- Orthodox, Catholics and other believers, who perished under the oppression of ferocious persecutions. The love of Christ even unto martyrdom, which unites them, reminds us of the urgent need to restore unity among Christians, a duty to which the Catholic Church feels herself to be irrevocably committed. Both the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church are moving in this direction.

I remember well that a delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate was present at the Second Vatican Council, and I have followed the contacts with Russian Orthodoxy that have taken place since then. In recent years these contacts have been intensifying, especially among the faithful, the priests and the bishops.

What are we to say then of the interreligious and intercultural dialogue which is another of the priority commitments of the Catholic Church and also, I believe, of the Russian Orthodox Church? Conscious of the spiritual gift of which they are the stewards and while firmly retaining their own proper identity, Christians are called to meet with the followers of other religions and to establish with them a fruitful dialogue in truth and charity.

To this end I pray and hope that the millennial ecclesial experience of Russia may continue to enrich the Christian horizon in a spirit of sincere service to the Gospel and to the men of today. And now a greeting in the Russian language:

[The Pope continued in Russian]

I am delighted to be able to address myself, in the Russian language, to the people and government of this great land of Russia, so dear to me. I extend my warmest greetings to our beloved Orthodox brothers and sisters, especially to his Holiness, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, and also to the Catholic bishops and their communities. To all of you I wish peace and well-being and a spirit of mutual love, and I invoke the blessing of God upon you all.

[Translation by Aid to the Church in Need]