Holy See–Russia relations is the bilateral relationship between the two countries, Vatican City

Vatican City

Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

 and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. The Holy See has an Apostolic Nunciature

Apostolic Nunciature

An Apostolic Nunciature is a top-level diplomatic mission of the Holy See, equivalent to an embassy.The head of the Apostolic Nunciature is called nuncio. A nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin nuntius, meaning messenger...

 in Moscow

Apostolic Nunciature in Moscow

The Apostolic Nunciature to Russia is the diplomatic mission of the Holy See in the Russian Federation. It is located at 7/37 Vadkovsky Lane in the Tverskoy District of Moscow.-History:...

. Russia has a permanent representative to the Holy See based in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

.

President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...

 ordered the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Russia and Holy See following the meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in December 2009.

Ecumenical relations

Holy See–Russia relations are largely linked to ecumenical relations with the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

.

Relationship before the 1917 revolution

Pope Pius IX, who faced his own problems with revolutionary movements in his Church State, first tried to position himself in the middle, strongly opposing revolutionary and violent opposition against the Russian authorities and appealing to them for more Church freedom.

John Paul II

There were mixed reactions in Russia on the papacy of John Paul II. Many Russians were happy that John Paul had reduced the influence of atheistic communism in Eastern Europe and contributed to a re-birth of Christianity in the country. However, many others did not like the fact that the fall of the Soviet Union had also provoked a loss of Russian influence in Eastern Europe. The fact that John Paul was Polish also caused tensions, since there is a historic ethno-religious rivalry between Poland and Russia.

External links

Documents on the Holy See – Russia relationship from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See in Moscow

• Benedict XVI receives President of the Russian Federation Video of meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and President Dmitry Medvedev from Official YouTube channel of the Vatican. December 3, 2009, Retrieved November 20, 2010