Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
February 16, 2002

His Holiness Pavle, Serbian Patriarch, received Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Archbishop of Milan in the Patriarchate Palace in Belgrade today. His Eminence Jovan - Metropolitan of Zagreb/Ljubljana and Their Graces Vasilije - Bishop of Zvornik/Tuzla, Irinej - Bishop of Backa, and Atanasije - Bishop of Hvosno also attended the reception.

Patriarch Pavle welcomed the eminent guest and underlined the significance of his visit, signifying peace and cooperation between the two Christian Churches. At the same time, Patriarch thanked for humanitarian and moral aid that the Catholic Church rendered to the afflicted people in this region during the past years, as well as for the engagement of the Italian state and army in the establishment of peace and protection of the Orthodox Serbian shrines in the areas under the control of this army in Kosovo and Metochia, especially stauropygiae laura the Patriarchate of Pec, the seat of the Serbian Patriarch.

Thanking for the welcoming, Cardinal Martini, member of the Congregation for Eastern Churches and the expert for the Greek text of the New Testament, pointed out that he felt with all his heart he had been received in the Serbian Patriarchate in the name of the Lord, the Founder of the Church. The same feeling he had in the past couple of days as well, when he had met the Serbian hierarchs, professors and students of the Faculty of Theology and the Orthodox faithful in Belgrade, Novi Sad and the Monastery of Kovilj. In today's talks, held in the spirit of understanding and of the common tradition of the first centuries of the Church of Christ, Archbishop Martini, the successor in the chair of Saint Ambrose of Milan, and Serbian Patriarch Pavle pointed out that, according to the theology of this Holy Father, we, the humans, reaching to God, reached to each others, and that cherishing cooperation between Churches offered hope to the faithful and was a pledge for nourishing peace in the whole world.

On this occasion Archbishop Martini gifted His Holiness Patriarch Pavle with a particle of relics of Saint Ambrose of Milan, which was accepted with great gratitude.

Patriarch asked this eminent guest to convey his greetings to His Holiness John Paul II, Pope of Rome, in the name of love for our joint Lord Jesus Christ.

Other member of the Roman Catholic Church delegation were Archbishop Eugenio Sbarbaro - Apostolic Nuncio in Yugoslavia, Mr Stanislav Hocevar - Archbishop of Belgrade, Mr Francesco Coccopalermio - Auxiliary Bishop of Milan, a representative of Caritas of the Archdiocese of Milan, clerical workers in charge of ecumenical issues, father Leopold Rohmes, General Vicar of the Archdiocese of Belgrade and other church representatives from Italy and Serbia.