Warsaw aims to reinvigorate Polish-Russian relations – Polish president

Published time: August 17, 2012 10:04
Edited time: August 17, 2012 14:04
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill (L) sits alongside Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski during a meeting at the Belvedere Palace on August 16, 2012. (AFP Photo / Wojtek Radwanski)

During a visit to Warsaw by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said Poland is committed to establishing good relations with Russia.

During a visit to Warsaw by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski announced that his country intends to establish solid bilateral relations with Russia.

“We are hoping it will turn over a new leaf in our bilateral relations,” Komorowski said on Thursday. The Polish leader, mindful of the turbulent history between Russia and Poland, expressed what he saw as the importance of reconciliation and forgiveness between neighbors.

"Reconciliation can only be achieved through communication based on fundamental values such as freedom and responsibility, love for your neighbor and forgiveness… We will strive to establish good relations between our countries," Komorowski said.

A joint address to the people of Poland and Russia will be signed during the visit of Patriarch Kirill, and the document will serve as “an important landmark in the development of our relations,” the Polish President said.

"The persecution and suffering experienced by our Churches help us better understand each other,” he said of the historic period when religion was stifled by Marxist ideology. “The Churches can do a lot to promote the development of Polish-Russian relations, help our peoples overcome the prejudices and stereotypes that prevent them from looking at each other with trust and hope."

Poland especially values the efforts made by the Russian Orthodox Church "aimed at disclosing historical truth," he said. Komorowski wished Patriarch Kirill health and wellbeing so that he might "serve the reconciliation between the people of Poland and Russia for many decades ahead."

Patriarch Kirill, in turn, hailed "the prompt arrival of a time when Russia and Poland will fully recover from the dark days of atheism,” as well as the creation of a “world order based on everything good and true."

In an earlier meeting with the Presidium of the Polish Catholic Bishops' Conference, Patriarch Kirill stressed the central role of religion in cultivating relations between the people of Russia and Poland: "It's impossible to achieve a true peace between the people of Russia and Poland without active…dialogue between the two churches that have shaped the spiritual identity and culture of both nations."

Kirill thanked the Polish Catholic Church for approving the joint address on reconciliation.

The document, scheduled to be signed on Friday, marks the 400 years that have passed since the Moscow was liberated from Polish control, and the 200 years since Russia's victory over Napoleon, the Patriarch said.

Robert Bridge, RT

Comments (22)

Llirik, who wears no Brequet (unregistered) 20.08.2012 01:06

(3 of 3)
Perhaps it is because the Bible does not support it. Does the Bible support sex for pleasure amongst straight couples, anal sex amongst straight couples, and even oral sex amongst straight couples? Where are Moscow's bans concerning them, and condemnation by forumgoers here of these practices? Do they simply fly under the radar and remain unnoticeable, because these are not gay couples practicing them?
In short, there appears to be little integrity with this law considered independently, and with the government which created it; which does not explain the basis for its intention - or if it does, does not apply the same principles with which it prohibits one aspect of some people's lives, to all aspects of all people's lives equally, which themselves violate the principles all the same. The same lack of integrity, which one would think essential to maintaining sound governance of nation as well as individual, can be implied in those who vocally support this policy; but who do not offer complete, honest, and thorough if even self-deprecating analyses as to why the policy addresses a unique "problem", as they see it, versus a "problem" possibly applicable universally to a much wider range of members of the human species, most of whom are insulated from condemnation along the same lines, simply by being of a category artificially designated to be of absolute significance to the topic at hand.

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Llirik, who wears no Brequet (unregistered) 20.08.2012 01:05

(2 of 3)
The topic of the ubiquity of anal sex practice across populations, both gay and straight, and either independent of or dependent on country or geopolitical basis or religious influence, has not been fully examined and successfully rebutted. What statistics can a supporter of this 100-year ban pull that say that 100% of straight couples have had 0 instances of anal sex in their lifetimes? Is this even a realistic number? In fact, the most realistic that I have personally encountered is that 25% of heterosexual couples have had anal sex... and how many couples does the average person have in their lifetime? Numerous.
The reality that anal sex is not unique to gay couples is jarring to the anti-homosexual polity. In addition, oral sex is practically universal across all types of sexual orientation, and in a variety of positions, and neither oral nor anal sex are conducive to human reproductive capacity... obviously.
Anothe r approach is to consider the widespread use of contraceptives among straight couples in the past few decades. Not only are people having sex out of wedlock, they are having sex while intentionally deterring the possibility of having children. They are having sex for pleasure. Where is the 100-year ban on this aspect? (cont'd)

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Birchwood 19.08.2012 11:05

Countries that are able to sit down and speak with each other, rather than to each other....... It seems can only gain, in having good results.

+2

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