VATICAN CITY (UCAN) -- The Vatican has "welcomed" a letter from the Russian Orthodox Church alleging proselytism by the Catholic Church in Russia and listing points of concern.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said in an interview with Vatican Radio July 9 that while the points are not convincing, the letter could lead to dialogue.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, responsible for external relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, wrote recently to Cardinal Kasper and Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Moscow complaining about attempts by the Catholic Church to convert Russians.

The letter from the metropolitan, who is similar in rank to a Catholic archbishop, was accompanied by 15 documents he said proved the accusations.

German Cardinal Kasper welcomed the letter as a sign of a possible, even if difficult, dialogue.

"When the complaints are concrete, it is possible to discuss them," he said, adding that he intends to invite Metropolitan Kirill to Rome to discuss the accusations.

The last contact between the Vatican and the Orthodox Church in Moscow was last February, when the Orthodox Church expressed its profound displeasure with the Vatican for elevating four apostolic administrations in the Russian Federation to dioceses.

Metropolitan Kirill's letter on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church focuses on the "atmosphere of secrecy" that surrounded the creation of the dioceses, which he said his Church had not been informed of beforehand.

The aim of the Vatican move and of the Catholic mission in Russia, he asserted, is "unambiguously proselytism."

In the list of events Metropolitan Kirill cited as acts of proselytism is a strong condemnation of Polish-born Bishop Jerzy Mazur of Irkutsk, who was expelled from Russia April 19.

In his attack on Bishop Mazur, Metropolitan Kirill mentioned that the bishop had studied missiology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in preparation for his missionary activities in Russia.

The metropolitan criticized religious congregations, claiming the Dominicans, Jesuits and Sisters of the Holy Family are engaged in activities hostile to the Orthodox Church.

He accused Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity nuns of offering shelter to street children with the purpose of leading them to the Catholic Church.

Metropolitan Kirill said the word "missionaries" in the congregation's name is suspicious and reveals its true intention of converting Orthodox faithful.

He also claimed that the number of Catholics in Russia does not justify the presence of so many religious congregations and the number of Catholic seminarians of Russian origin is too high.

Cardinal Kasper said that the question of proselytism can be discussed, but only after the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Russia has examined the alleged acts of proselytism listed by Metropolitan Kirill.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, who was in Rome to receive the pallium, symbolizing his metropolitan office, from Pope John Paul II on June 29, did not find anything new in Metropolitan Kirill's letter.

He told "Avvenire," the newspaper of the Italian Catholic bishops' conference, that these were just the usual accusations of proselytism with an additional list of episodes that, in his opinion, "do not make sense."

The archbishop, who is president of the Russian bishops' conference, said he had sent a message to Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, suggesting a meeting during which "we put in black and white a definition of proselytism."

He observed that "many Orthodox personalities" show openness and are "collaborating with the Catholic Church in other cities than Moscow."

Of Russia's 144 million people, an estimated two-thirds are members of the Russian Orthodox Church. About 600,000 are Catholics.

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