Moscow, Feb. 26, 2008 (CWNews.com) - A spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church has said that a key point of tension between Moscow and Rome, the concept of "canonical territory," should be resolved in order to allow greater progress in ecumenical dialogue.

Bishop Hilarion of Vienna told the interfax news service that he hoped for "serious and elaborate discussion" of the Moscow patriarchate's objections to the presence of four Catholic dioceses in Russia. The Orthodox patriarchate claims Russia as the "canonical territory" of the Orthodox Church. The Vatican does not acknowledge that concept.

"Many Western people think that the concept of a 'canonical territory' has lost its sense altogether in modern situation, because Orthodox believers coexist side by side with Catholics, Protestants, and representatives of other faiths," Bishop Hilarion told Interfax. As the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Vienna, Austria-- historically a Catholic territory-- Archbishop Hilarion is himself an illustration of that point.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, has said that he was surprised by the Orthodox suggestion that Russia's four Catholic dioceses, canonically erected in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, should be dismantled. (Prior to 2002, Catholic parishes in Russia were grouped into "apostolic administrations," short of the status of dioceses.) Cardinal Kasper said that he saw no reason why Catholic dioceses should not exist in Russia, just as Orthodox dioceses are established in western Europe.