Antonio Spadaro SJ, editor-in-chief of La Civiltà Cattolica and a close collaborator of Pope Francis, has recently visited Moscow and Saint Petersburg for a series of meetings, organized by the Jesuits of St Thomas Institute in Moscow. On March, 2 a round table was held at the Orthodox Graduate School on the topic of Ecclesial Ministry in the Digital Era, where besides Fr Spadaro, who is the author of the book “Cybertheology: Thinking Christianity in the Era of the Internet”, an Orthodox theologian Fr Vladimir Shmaliy and others discussed how not only the pastoral activity, but the way of understanding the Christian message is influenced by new technologies. The meeting caused quite a high resonance both among both Catholics and Orthodox who deal with the digital media in their ministry. 

The following day in St Thomas Institute, A. Spadaro together with the nuncio Celestino Migliore and the Catholic journalist Aleksey Yudin, shared their opinions on the first five years of Pope Francis’ pontificate. Fr Spadaro, the editor of a collection of the interviews with the Pope, which were published last Autumn in Italian, gave some valuable insights on Francis’ pastoral style and his vision of the Church. 

Before leaving Russia, A. Spadaro also met with the seminarians of the Catholic Seminary in Saint Petersburg, answering their questions and sharing his ideas about the current situation in the Church. 

For about one year La Civiltà Cattolica regularly publishes articles on the situation in Russia, thanks to a correspondent in Moscow, Br Vladimir Pashkov SJ.