Kosovo is on all our minds these days. Moreover the war in Yugoslavia is on our consciences. Sadly, the name Balkans is immediately associated with suffering and intractability. The territories include large and deeply-rooted ethnic minorities resident beyond the current political boundaries of their mother countries.

This criss-crossing of populations in Balkan lands decrees a permanent state of disturbance, both civil and religious, as expatriate enclaves struggle for parity of esteem, and even local autonomy, within the political establishment in which they find themselves. This tension is heightened by the clash of religious identities in the Balkans, where Muslim populations sharpen the cultural difference between Islam and the Orthodox Christian tradition. Romania, although part of the Balkan group, is a Latin nation which has retained its own language and customs despite being surrounded by Slavic peoples. Romania is also unusual within the Balkans in that 80 per cent of its population of 23 million gives allegiance to the Orthodox Church. In this respect it is within the sphere of influence of Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Christianity. Romanian Greek-rite Catholics in communion with Rome number some 600,000.

This church broke from the Orthodox jurisdiction in the 17th century, while retaining its Byzantine rite (Greek language) liturgy and culture. In addition, a 1.5 million-strong Latin rite Catholic community lives in Romania. The Greek rite Catholic church was suppressed and its places of worship and entire patrimony handed over to the Orthodox church, which was technically permitted to continue to exist during the communist regime. After the fall of Ceausescu nine years ago, the Romanian Greek rite Catholic Church was legally re-established.

Since then there has been serious tension on the issue of recovering its cathedrals and other churches annexed by the Orthodox. Only in January of this year has agreement been reached between the two churches by which a proportion of the 2,000 buildings are being returned to the Greek Catholics, their original owners. Moreover, in many places they will share each other's places of worship. This settlement represents a major ecumenical breakthrough which is sending benign ripples throughout the entire Orthodox world (some 200 million all told) as well as marking a sense of relief to Rome (1 billion adherents globally).

Into this now subsiding cauldron Pope John Paul steps next weekend, as he visits Romania at the invitation of both President Constantinescu and the Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist. The Romanian ambassador to the Holy See, Teodor Baconsky, has described the Pope's visit was "both courageous and risky". He added: "The schism in the church which began a millennium ago is gradually healing . . . "

It is believed that the invitation to Pope John Paul would not have come without the permission of the Russian Patriarch, Alexei II. The Pope has long expressed a desire to visit Russia. His arrival in a predominantly Orthodox land is being construed as the first of two steps to Moscow. Some believe that the Slavic Pope's ecumenical outlook may have greater cultural and theological affinities with Eastern orthodoxy than with the reformed churches of Western Europe.

Pope John Paul arrives in the capital, Bucharest, next Friday. He will first meet Romania's Catholic bishops, then members of the government. On Saturday he will pray at the graves of Romanian Catholic victims of communist oppression. Later he will celebrate Mass in the local Byzantine rite at the cathedral in Bucharest. Then comes the meeting of reconciliation with Patriarch Teoctist and the Orthodox Synod.

On the final day of his visit the Pope will have discussions with Romania's prime minister, before being present at a celebration of the Orthodox liturgy by Patriarch Teoctist. It will be followed by a Latin rite Mass, with the Pope as celebrant and the Patriarch in attendance. The Pope's visit is restricted to Bucharest, even though he had hoped to travel to Transylvania and towards Moldova in the north-east, where the largest concentration of Catholics is to be found. Although this facility is denied to the Pope, the government is arranging to bus Catholics to Bucharest for the visit.

This Balkan event may seem remote to Irish readers, but is an important ground-breaking venture by Pope John Paul as he perseveres in his tireless ecumenical pilgrimages. His vision of Christian life is unambiguously global. The outreach to Orthodoxy represents a historic gesture towards restoring a communion between Rome and the ancient Patriarchies of the East.

Father Tom Stack PP writes a column in the Irish Catholic