Tensions remain after Yeltsin meets Pope

by Viviane Hewitt in Rome
DESPITE a successful meeting at the Vatican between Pope John Paul and Russian President Boris Yeltsin, hopes have faded in Rome this week of the pontiff's much-hoped-for visit to Moscow going ahead during 1992.
Relations between the Orthodox church and Catholicism, already at a low ebb, have taken a new turn for the worse with news reaching Rome that the Catholic church, which Orthodoxy accuses of
over-aggressive evangelisation campaigns on Soviet territory, is at the centre of a fresh row among the faithful of the former USSR's major religion.
The row centres on figures which show that the Orthodox church is losing converts to Catholicism among the young, who are said to be abandoning the traditional Russian faith "in droves" to adhere to the new Catholic dioceses and parishes.
Youth leaders are also said to have publicly accused Orthodox leaders of decades of compromise with communist regimes while praising the stance taken by Catholic priests.
The Vatican believes the development has made the chances of a papal visit to Moscow during this year even more unlikely.
At the meeting between Mr Yeltsin and the Pope last week, the possibility was not even mentioned.
Instead, the Pope pledged Catholic help in overcoming current difficulties in the Soviet Union.
The two men discussed the control of nuclear arms in several former Soviet republics and Mr Yeltsin said he promised they would remain under a "single control".
Information about the private meeting was provided afterwards by Mr Yeltsin, who said it had been "really historical" and "an exceptional event".
Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the papal spokesman, said the Russian leader had told the pope that the new Russian constitution would guarantee religious liberty to all organised religions on an equal basis.
The Pope expressed hope for "a tighter and more fraternal cooperation among all Christian churches, especially the Russian Orthodox Church," said Mr Navarro-ValLs.
Catholic-Russian Orthodox tensions are currently high because of church property disputes in the Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox rejected a papal invitation to send a delegate to last month's Synod of Bishops on Europe.
Mr Yeltsin was baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church.