This is despite ongoing talks since 2013 between Pope Francis and the spiritual head of the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

Although the two church leaders agree on many issues, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk says there are some basic differences.

"Despite the fact that our faith bases are on similar foundations and almost the same Creed, the Catholics have different teaching about the Holy Spirit."

He also says during the past thousand years of separate existence "we have accumulated many contradictions and disagreements."

Mgr Igor Kovalevsky, secretary-general of Russia's Catholic Bishops' Conference, agrees "no real progress" was being made towards solving Catholic Church problems in the country.

"I wouldn't be too optimistic," he says.

"The general situation in Russia isn't easy right now, and the Catholic Church still faces great challenges in merely building bridges.

"Whereas politicians tend to set people apart, the mission of religious leaders is to reconcile them.

"Since our own church is small and weak by itself, we should be pleased if these contacts with the Holy See have helped achieve a few small steps, if nothing more.

"But they all seem to be happening over our heads without much reference to local conditions."

Although the churches themselves may not unite, Pope Francis and Russia's Patriarch Kirill agree on some issues.

These include the need to protect endangered Christians in the Middle East.

They have also pledged to continue working for world peace.

Source

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Catholic World Report

At first, as we read in Genesis, "no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up - for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground" (2:5).

The earth was entrusted to us as a sublime gift and legacy, for which all of us share responsibility until, "in the end", all things in heaven and on earth will be restored in Christ (cf. Eph 1:10).

Our human dignity and welfare are deeply connected to our care for the whole of creation. However, "in the meantime", the history of the world presents a very different context.

It reveals a morally decaying scenario where our attitude and behaviour towards creation obscures our calling as God's co-operators.

Our propensity to interrupt the world's delicate and balanced ecosystems, our insatiable desire to manipulate and control the planet's limited resources, and our greed for limitless profit in markets - all these have alienated us from the original purpose of creation.

We no longer respect nature as a shared gift; instead, we regard it as a private possession.

We no longer associate with nature in order to sustain it; instead, we lord over it to support our own constructs. The consequences of this alternative worldview are tragic and lasting.

The human environment and the natural environment are deteriorating together, and this deterioration of the planet weighs upon the most vulnerable of its people.

The impact of climate change affects, first and foremost, those who live in poverty in every corner of the globe.

Our obligation to use the earth's goods responsibly implies the recognition of and respect for all people and all living creatures.

The urgent call and challenge to care for creation are an invitation for all of humanity to work towards sustainable and integral development. Continue reading

Sources

• Zenit
• Image: The Sacred Page

Pope Francis said he was instituting the prayer day for Catholics because he shares the concern of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who initiated a similar prayer day for the Orthodox Church in 1989.

The day of prayer, the Pope said, will give individuals and communities an opportunity to implore God's help in protecting creation and an opportunity to ask God's forgiveness "for sins committed against the world in which we live".

The suggestion to have Catholics and Orthodox praying for such a cause on the same day came from Metropolitan John of Pergamon

The Metropolitan represented Patriarch Bartholomew at the public presentation on June 18 of Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si'.

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