Catholic, Orthodox churches could be united - pope

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Vatican City

Pope Benedict XVI thanked a Cypriot Orthodox leader for coming to see him Saturday, and said he held firm hope that the Catholic and Orthodox churches could be united despite centuries of painful division.

Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus has offered to play the role of mediator to try to arrange a groundbreaking meeting between the pope and the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow. That encounter eluded the late John Paul II in his long papacy because of Catholic-Orthodox tensions following the demise of Soviet communism.

"I welcome you with joy,'' Benedict told the Cypriot. Despite "centuries-old divisions, diverging roads and despite the hard work of closing painful wounds, the Lord has never ceased to guide our steps on the path toward unity and reconciliation," the pontiff said at a ceremony after the two men held private talks.

Benedict described the archbishop's visit as a "very useful initiative to make us progress toward the unity desired by Christ."

There were no immediate details on the private talks. Chrysostosmos had scheduled a news conference later in Rome.

The Cypriot recently said that he had sounded out Moscow Patriarch Alexy II about the prospects of meeting with Benedict and that Alexy did not see any problems.

Chrysostomos has contended that Benedict's being a theologian with good grasp of Orthodox theology would help the process of reuniting the two Churches which split nearly 1,000 years ago.