Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is on a foreign trip and among his stops was the Vatican City for an audience with the Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI. For a long time, the relationship between the Vatican and Russia has been strained (to say the least) for a multitude of reasons; some modern, some historical. For example, after the fall of the Soviet Union, there was a massive surge of people flocking to rediscover religion. The Russian Orthodox Church, which is the predominant Church in Russia, accused the Catholic Church of coming in and trying to essentially steal Christians from them. In addition to that, Pope John Paul II didn’t make a lot of friends in high ranking circles of the Kremlin for the key role he played in bringing down the Iron Curtain and likewise, the Soviets didn’t have a heck of a lot of respect for the Pope, either.

Since becoming Pope, Benedict XVI has made a sustained effort to greatly improve relations with and heal many of the divides between the Catholic Church and the other Apostolic Churches located in the east. In the case of the Russian Church, that requires improved relations with not only the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus, but also the government of the Russian Federation as well. Now that its leaders are democratically elected, there really isn’t any excuse not to have full diplomatic ties.

That was the purpose of Dmitry Medvedev’s trip to the Vatican and both the Russian President and the Pope were on the same page about the constructive relationship they wanted the Holy See and Russia to have.

In my personal view, any step towards unity in Christianity, regardless of how small or seemingly insignificant, is a step in the right direction. The very act of normalizing relations with the Russian Federation to “full diplomatic ties” opens another avenue of dialogue that will be highly beneficial for everyone involved. I suppose if you’re a cynic of Russia (or even the Vatican), you might at least be interesting to see how this impacts US-Vatican relations. In all honesty, I don’t think it will. But, another positive thing about the Vatican and Russia getting on the same page diplomatically is that the United States (and NATO) will have a confidential diplomatic channel with the Russian Federation and the other way around. Eventually, assuming trust is built in this relationship, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Vatican finds itself in a mediator role in resolving international disputes. Kind of a throwback to the role of the vintage Vatican.