MOSCOW, September 16 (RIA Novosti) - Pope Benedict XVI will receive a senior Russian Orthodox Church official at his countryside residence on Friday, Vatican Radio reported Wednesday.

Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who heads the Moscow Patriarchate's External Church Relations Department, arrived in Rome on Tuesday on the invitation of Walter Kasper, the head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. His visit will end September 20.

Council Secretary Brian Farrell said the visit testified to continuously good relations between the Council and the Department, which was led by Metropolitan Kirill before he was enthroned as patriarch in February.

As a result of the Great Schism, Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church). They have a number of theological and political differences.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican, which have been strained in recent years over claims the Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the U.S.S.R.

The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II, and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader, Benedict XVI.

When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79, the enthronement of Russia's new church leader Patriarch Kirill, who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church, was welcomed by the Vatican.

As head of the Russian Orthodox Church's external relations for more than a decade, Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches.