Vatican City ? Call it icon diplomacy.

Just as the visit of a U.S. table tennis team to China — “pingpong diplomacy” — helped open the way for a visit by President Richard Nixon in 1972, the Vatican is hoping that a series of small steps can break down barriers with the Russian Orthodox Church and Orthodoxy elsewhere, bringing Pope John Paul II to Russia.

The Vatican recently returned a Russian icon revered by the country’s Orthodox community, and now plans to send back the relics of two Orthodox saints taken from Constantinople as plunder by Crusaders eight centuries ago.

Certainly, the Vatican has few illusions that Christianity’s final split into Western and Eastern branches in the 11th century is easily repaired. Both sides recognize that the power of the papacy was a principal reason for the rupture, and remains so.

Added to that are the new rivalries arising from the rebirth of the Roman Catholic Church in the heavily Orthodox lands of the former Soviet Union, a religious revival spurred in part by the Polish-born pontiff’s successful efforts to bring down communism. Accusations that the Vatican is seeking souls among the Orthodox — as well as attempts to regain Catholic churches in Ukraine given to the Orthodox by the communists — have strained relations.

Still, the Vatican has hoped for enough goodwill to enable the pope to make a groundbreaking visit to Moscow to demonstrate his personal commitment to eventual reconciliation. No pontiff has ever set foot in Russia, but 84-year-old John Paul would accept an invitation — even though he suffers from Parkinson’s disease and crippling knee and hip ailments.