On 2 December 2011, negotiations were held with leaders of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Science ((Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII) in Bologna.
The Russian Orthodox Church was represented by Archimandrite Kirill (Govorun), first deputy head of the ROC Education Committee and pro-rector of the Ss Cyril and Methodius Post-Graduate and Doctoral School, and Fr. Ioann (Guaita) of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations. They held negotiations with Prof. Alberto Melloni, general secretary of the Foundation.
The Foundation unites doctoral candidates and scholars studying various aspects of church history. It is an independent research institution.
The agreement reached provides for an opportunity for doctoral candidates to write together doctoral theses and for cooperation between scholars in Italy and the Russian Orthodox Church.