05/12/2008 President
Strasbourg, 05.12.2008 – In a letter today to the Chairman of the delegation of the Russian Federation to PACE Konstantin Kosachev, and to the Speaker of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov, PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig has expressed his sincere condolences at the death of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia.
The Patriarch “was a man of faith and humanity”, the President wrote. Recalling the words the Patriarch used when he addressed PACE last year, the President stressed the importance of his contribution to “creating dialogue between different cultures in order to avoid clashes between different world views”.
“The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly will pursue its contribution to improving inter-religious and intercultural dialogue, and thus echo the call made by the Patriarch, along with other religious leaders, for building bridges between religious communities.”