2023-04-29 13:07:29
Archbishop Hilarion, who was head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department of External Relations for 13 years, was seconded to Hungary last year. This time he had a “friendly” meeting with the Pope at the Holy See embassy for about 20 minutes. The pope welcomed him with an embrace and kissed the cross he wore on his chest.
(Vatican News Network)On April 29, the second day of his visit to Hungary, Pope Francis held a private meeting with Archbishop Hilarion at the Holy See Embassy in the morning. Archbishop Hilarion is currently the Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church in Budapest and Hungary. He assumed his current position in June 2022, after thirteen years as chairman of the Department for Foreign Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The sudden shift that took place last year was the result of a series of decisions taken by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. At that time, at a meeting held at the Danilov Monastery in Moscow, the church made adjustments to the distribution of power in several jurisdictions. Hilarion was removed from the title of Archbishop of Volokolamsk, from the Standing Committee of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, and from the post of Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies of St. Cyril and St. Methodox.
Recently, before the Pope’s visit to Hungary, Bruni, Director of the Holy See Press Office, mentioned the possibility of the Pope’s meeting with Archbishop Hilarion at the press conference introducing the trip. At the time, Bruni stressed that the meeting was not in the scheduled schedule anyway. On April 29, the Holy See stated that the meeting on that day had a “harmonious atmosphere” and lasted about 20 minutes, with an interpreter present. The location was the Holy See embassy where the Pope stayed these days. The Pope welcomed Archbishop Hilarion with an embrace and kissed the cross he wore on his chest.
Previously, the last time the Pope met with Archbishop Hilarion was in the Vatican on December 22, 2021. At the time, the announcement from the Holy See Press Room stated that on that occasion, the two sides “discussed some issues of mutual concern”; in the face of these issues, “the parties jointly committed themselves to seek concrete human and spiritual responses”. The first meeting between Pope Francis and Archbishop Hilarion took place on March 20, 2013, the day after Bergoglio took office as Peter. In the following years, Pope Francis and Archbishop Hilarion held many meetings in the Vatican.
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