Metz Accord

The Metz Accord was an agreement of principle made between the Holy See and the Russian Orthodox Church at Metz, France, on 13 August 1962,^[1][2][3] in which the Russian Orthodox Church agreed to send observers to Second Vatican Council and in return, the Vatican would specifically refrain from denouncing Communism.^[4] Traditionalist Catholic writer Malachi Martin called it a renewal of the previous pacts of 1942 and 1944 concerning the Vatican's Ostpolitik,^[5]:91–2 although the term "Ostpolitik" is usually associated with initiatives not of Pope Pius XII (1939–58), but only of his successors, Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI.^{[Notes 1]}

History

Invitation through Constantinople

Metz, France

In the build-up to the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII wanted non-Catholic Christian denominations to attend the council through observers.^[6] Cardinal Augustin Bea S.J., President of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, issued a general invitation to all branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church through Athenagoras I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. There were no acceptances.^[7]:123–4 In November 1961, Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and Minsk, head of the foreign relations department of the Russian Orthodox Church, who represented his church at a meeting of the World Council of Churches in New Delhi. was asked if his church would send a delegate to the Council. He replied that it was an embarrassing question, since his church had not been invited. The Russian Orthodox Church, in fact, does not see itself as in any way subject to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and required that any invitation should be sent to it directly.^[8]

The controversial writer Malachi Martin says that on the advice of Monsignor Agostino Casaroli, the later Cardinal Secretary of State, and Archbishop Giovanni Battista Montini, the later Pope Paul VI, Pope John decided to engage in private negotiations with the Russian Orthodox Church in order to ensure their participation.^[5]:66

Metz

A meeting hosted by Paul-Joseph Schmitt, Bishop of Metz in France, was held between Cardinals Eugène Tisserant, Prefect of the Congregation of Ceremonies and Dean of the College of Cardinals and Johannes Willebrands, Secretary of the newly established Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity on the one hand, and Metropolitan Nikodim on the other, at the house of Father Lagarde, chaplain of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Borny, on the outskirts of Metz. Malachy Martin says that Nikodim set as conditions for formal participation of Russian Church observers at the council, firstly, a non-condemnation of atheistic communism during the conciliar assemblies, and, secondly, any such condemnations being made only after the council had finished.^[5]:85–6

Direct invitation

Cardinal Willebrands visited Moscow, Russia from 27 September until 2 October 1962, and officially invited the head of the Russian Orthodox church, Alexy I, Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus, to send observers to the Council^[7]:123–4. Two Russian Orthodox observers, Metropolitan Vladimir Kotlyarov of St. Petersburg and Ladoga and Archpriest Vitali Borovoy of Leningrad, participated at the first session in 1962.

Later

On 15 September 1963, Pope Paul VI received Metropolitan Nikodim in private audience together with Cardinal Willebrands and Bishop François Charrière of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg.

At the fourth session in 1965, Geraldo de Proença Sigaud S.V.D., Archbishop of Diamantina, formally requested, in the name of the Coetus Internationalis Patrum group of council fathers, that Communism be condemned. The petition, signed by 450 council fathers, was ignored by Pope Paul VI.^[7]:282–7

Metropolitan Nikodim collapsed and died in 1978 during a private audience with Pope John Paul I in Rome. The new pope, who would himself die a few weeks later, prayed over him in his final moments and give him absolution.

Impact

Communism had been losing credibility around the world and even within the Soviet Union. Because of this, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had gradually begun the de-Stalinization of the country, and had introduced several relatively liberal reforms in areas of domestic policy. A formal condemnation by the Vatican might have seriously damaged the Soviet government.^[4]

For the next twenty years or so, the Vatican remained mostly silent on Communism and the Soviet Union. It was not until the election of Pope John Paul II that the Roman Catholic Church began forcefully denouncing Communism again.

Bibliography

• (in French) France Nouvelle, FR: Parti Communiste Français, 16–22 January 1963 .
• (in French) La Croix, FR, 15 February 1963 .
• (in French) Le Lorrain, FR, 9 March 1963 .
• 30 Dias (magazine), October 1988, pp. 55–57 .
• Floridi SJ, Ulisse Alessio (1979) (in French), Moscou et le Vatican, Paris: France-Empire, pp. 147–48 .
• de la Cierva, Ricardo (1987) (in Castillan), Oscura rebelion en la Iglesia, Barcelona: Plaza & Janes, pp. 580–81 .
• Martin, Malachi B., The Jesuits: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church, Simon & Schuster, New York City, NY, 1987 ISBN 978-0-6716-5716-1 pp. 66, 85–86, 91, 483
• Wiltgen S.V.D., Ralph M. The Rhine flows into the Tiber: A history of Vatican II, Augustine, 1988 ISBN 978-0-8517-2721-9 pp. 123–24, 282–87
• Lefebvre F.S.S.P.X., Marcel, Open Letter to Confused Catholics, Angelus Press, Arlington, KS, 1992 ISBN 978-0-9359-5213-1 p. 130
• Chiron, Yves, Paul VI: Le pape écartelé, Perrin, Paris, 1993 ISBN 2-2620-0952-X pp. 186, 246
• Amerio, Romano, Iota Unum: A Study of Changes in the Catholic Church in the Twentieth Century, Angelus Press, Arlington-KS, 1996 ISBN 978-0-9639-0321-1 pp. 65–66, 75–76
• Tissier de Mallerais F.S.S.P.X., Bernard, Marcel Lefebvre: The Biography, Angelus Press, Arlington, KS, 2004 ISBN 978-1-8923-3124-3.
• de Villemarest, Danièle; de Villemarest, Pierre (2006) (in French), Le KGB au coeur du Vatican, Versailles: Editions de Paris, pp. 12–18, 105–6, ISBN 978-2-8516-2052-1 .
• Madiran, Jean (2007) (in French), Editions de Paris, Versailles, ISBN 978-2-9167-2706-6 .

Notes

1. ^ Ostpolitik: Vatican diplomacy

References

1. ^ France Nouvelle, 16–22 January 1963.
2. ^ La Croix, 15 February 1963.
3. ^ Le Lorrain, 9 March 1963
4. ^ ^{a b} Guimarães, Atila Sinke. "The Council of Metz". Tradition in Action. http://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/a007ht.htm. Retrieved 12 August 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Martin, Malachi B., The Jesuits: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church, Simon & Schuster, New York City, NY, 1987 ISBN 978-0-6716-5716-1.
6. ^ Sullivan, Maureen, 101 Questions and Answers on Vatican II, Paulist Press, New York City, NY, 2002 ISBN 0-8091-4133-7 p. 21
7. ^ ^{a b c} Wiltgen SVD, Ralph M The Rhine flows into the Tiber: A history of Vatican II, Augustine, 1988 ISBN 978-0-8517-2721-9.
8. ^ Wiltgen, Ralph M, The Rhine Flows into the Tiber, p. 121, http://books.google.com/books?ei=bNa7Ter-EcuFhQfM9qTNBQ&ct=result&id=nAVDAAAAIAAJ&dq=The+Rhine+flows+into+the+Tiber%3A&q=%22had+not+been+invited%22#search_anchor .