Pope in rare meeting with Russian Orthodox cleric

By Phil Stewart

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict held a rare meeting on Friday with a senior Russian Orthodox Church cleric, who hailed the encounter as proof of warming relations and a step toward greater Christian unity.

Metropolitan Kirill, the head of external relations for the Moscow Patriarchate, said after meeting Benedict that he was increasingly optimistic about relations with Rome.

"It is with great feelings of hope that I leave Rome after this visit," he told Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano after the closed-door meeting.

The Vatican did not immediately release any details about the talks.

The Western and Eastern branches of Christianity have been split since the Great Schism of 1054. Relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church, the most important in worldwide Orthodoxy, have suffered particular strain.

Kirill described the meeting with the German-born Pontiff as "very positive and very beautiful", and said it raised hopes that the two Churches could work more closely together to confront shared challenges.

"We need each other ... We are the same family. We share the same Christian values," he said. "Catholics and Orthodox are always more united in confronting the multiple challenges that come from today's world and from secularization."

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