The Pope donates Our Lady of Kazan to Alexy II
Vatican City (AsiaNews) Our Lady of Kazan, the miraculous and most venerated icon which disappeared in the early 1900s and was later found in England, is going back to Russia. The icon was given to Pope John Paul II who has kept it in his private rooms in the Vatican. Yesterday the Pope made public his intention of returning the icon to Russia as a personal gift to the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow. According to Vatican spokesperson Joaquín Navarro-Valls the gift "is unrelated to any possible meeting in Russia between the Pontiff and Alexy II."
"Some weeks ago," Joaquín Navarro-Valls said yesterday, "the Holy Father told the Patriarch of Moscow hat he wished to donate the Sacred Icon of Our Lady of Kazan to the Russian Orthodox Church. It was no secret that John Paul II hoped to bring the icon "home" in person should he have been able to fulfill his dream of visiting Russia. Last year, when the Pope was planning to visit Mongolia (eventually postponed) he hoped to make a technical stop in Kazan where he could hand back the icon and at the same time set foot on Russian soil.
Although health reasons prevented the Pope from going on this long trip, he has never the less decided to return the icon to Russia. Navarro-Valls added that "ever since receiving the Sacred Icon, it was always the Pope's wish to donate it to the Russian people so that they may once again venerate it. Now the right time has come. The day set for the ceremony of the presentation of the Sacred Icon is August 28, the Feast of the Dormition according to Orthodox liturgical calendar. The Holy Father hopes that the pilgrimage in Rome of Our Lady of Kazan "may contribute to the unity so longed for between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches." The statement ended by saying that "information about how and when the act of devotion to the Sacred Icon will be made and who will compose the Vatican delegation in Russia shall be released shortly."
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