NEWS STORY: Yeltsin finds ally in Pope on Iraq but not on religion

c. 1998 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Russian President Boris Yeltsin found an ally Tuesday (Feb. 10) in Pope John Paul II in his effort to spare Iraq another war. But at the same time, the Russian president defended a recently enacted law elevating the dominant Russian Orthodox Church and, some fear, restricting the […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ Russian President Boris Yeltsin found an ally Tuesday (Feb. 10) in Pope John Paul II in his effort to spare Iraq another war. But at the same time, the Russian president defended a recently enacted law elevating the dominant Russian Orthodox Church and, some fear, restricting the religious freedom of Catholics and others.

Meeting for the second time since 1991, the two leaders, both credited with aiding the demise of communism and encouraging the fledgling democracies of Eastern Europe, spoke privately for 50 minutes, nearly twice the time allotted.


In fact, toward the end of their talk in the pope’s private library, the pontiff said he was ready to conclude the session but Yeltsin piped up, saying,”We’re not yet finished.” Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls called the meeting, at which only two interpreters joined the men,”cordial and informal.” He told reporters the two leaders spoke in Russian much of the time, though the pope lapsed into Italian frequently.”I’m so happy to see you again,”Yeltsin said upon greeting the pope with a handshake. The pontiff, referring to their 1991 introduction, said,”I remember it very well.” Making his first foreign trip since suffering a viral infection in December, the 67-year-old Yeltsin arrived Monday on a three-day state visit to Italy, where he has signed several commercial agreements.

He was whisked through St. Peter’s Square at dusk with an enormous entourage of 45, including his wife Naina and daughter, in a motorcade of 33 cars and two ambulances at the rear.

Yeltsin, who looked worn and aloof on Monday, appeared relaxed and rested in his meeting with the pope. Upon seeing the pontiff, Naina Yeltsin said,”I am very happy to see my husband in great form.” The pope nodded.

The two leaders found agreement on averting war in Iraq, which the United States has threatened unless Saddam Hussein permits unfettered U.N. access to inspection sites.

On Monday, Yeltsin caused a diplomatic stir when he erroneously said U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was heading to Baghdad in an attempt to bring a diplomatic end to the latest crisis.

Navarro-Valls said the two leaders agreed that”the key point is that dialogue must continue, that the recourse to war is not just and war in any case will increase problems, not solve them.” The pope has spoken out regularly against the use of force in Iraq, most recently last Sunday, when he said all diplomatic means had not been exhausted to end the crisis.

But Yeltsin defended his decision to sign into law last September a bill enshrining the rights of the dominant Russian Orthodox Church while imposing new restrictions on the activities of other Christian denominations, including Catholicism. He told the pope he vetoed the original version of the law last summer after considering a letter of protest from the pontiff.


Yeltsin”explained to the Holy Father why he didn’t accept the first draft of that law and at what point he had taken into account very carefully the content of a letter that at the time the Holy Father sent to President Yeltsin,”Navarro-Valls said.”And so he explained why now the law is fair for all the religions in Russia.” The dispute, separately discussed between Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeni Primakov and Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, deputy secretary of state, has caused considerable agitation inside the Vatican.

Despite Yeltsin’s repeated invitations to the pope to visit Moscow, which he reiterated on Tuesday, Yeltsin’s own aides have said such a pilgrimage is not feasible unless the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church can come to terms over their relationship.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexii II and John Paul were scheduled to meet last August, but the meeting was canceled by Alexii because of disputes over church property and what the Orthodox leader considered Catholic missionary efforts among the Orthodox faithful.

Navarro-Valls said the pope pressed the point over religious liberties by referring to the Christian celebrations of the year 2000, urging that Russia”take into account the two spiritual traditions, the Oriental tradition and the Western traditions.” DEA END HEILBRONNER

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