Rome
The Vatican this week returned a Russian holy icon to the Russian Orthodox Church, in an effort to ease tensions between the two Christian religions. Pope John Paul II had long planned to give the Kazan icon, an 18th-century copy of a 16th-century Madonna, to Patriarch Alexy II, the Orthodox leader. The pope wanted to deliver the icon personally on a visit to Moscow to symbolize reconciliation between the two churches. But the rapprochement faltered several years ago when the Vatican opened four new Roman Catholic dioceses in Russia. An angry patriarch then said he would not sanction a papal visit, but he did receive the cardinal who delivered the icon to Moscow this week. “The Kazan icon, despite reprehensible misunderstandings and differences, has rewarded our efforts to restore the unity of all Christians,” Alexy said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Book reviews: ‘Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America’ and ‘How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978–1998’Feature A political ‘witch hunt’ and Helen Garner’s journal entries
-
The backlash against ChatGPT's Studio Ghibli filterThe Explainer The studio's charming style has become part of a nebulous social media trend
-
Why are student loan borrowers falling behind on payments?Today's Big Question Delinquencies surge as the Trump administration upends the program
