The pope, who turns 81 next month, plans to visit Ukraine on June 23-27. The trip has been opposed by the dominant Orthodox Church, which is tightly linked to Moscow and has accused the Roman Catholic Church of stealing converts and land. The pope said he had read the letter carefully, but said he was preparing for the trip. The Polish-born pontiff has long cherished a wish to see unity between Western and Eastern churches which split in the Great Schism of 1054. He was the first pope since then to go to a mainly Orthodox country when he visited Romania in 1999.
Rifts remain between West and East.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexiy II has declined to meet the pope, effectively preventing him from traveling to Russia and stirring Rome's relations with groups affiliated to Moscow. The pope, the most widely traveled pontiff in history, also faces tension in early May when he visits Greece, some of whose Orthodox bishops have decried the trip. Ukraine Crises One of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's main bugbears is a push by the Greek-Catholic Church to reclaim property. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin banned the Ukrainian Catholic church in 1946 and handed its property to Orthodox parishes. Once Soviet rule crumbled and the ban was lifted in 1991, Catholics tried to get land back, especially in Western Ukraine, often provoking violent clashes.