Doug Stanglin,
Under Francis, the Vatican has encouraged continuing ecumenical ties with the Orthodox as well as other Christian denominations. In November 2014, Francis said he told Kirill: “I’ll go wherever you want. You call me and I’ll go.”
The Vatican has been especially solicitous to Russia, especially in largely sidestepping criticism of Moscow's role in the Ukraine conflict.
The issue is particularly knotty for the Catholic Church, as it touches on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the country’s second-largest, which follows eastern church rites but answers to the Holy See. The Russian Orthodox Church has considered western Ukraine its traditional territory and has resented papal influence there.
Cardinal Kurt Koch, the head of the Vatican office that deals with Orthodox relations, said the Ukrainian church will certainly come up in the two-hour private talk between Francis and Kirill, the Associated Press reported. “It would be impossible to meet without discussing such issues,” he told Vatican Radio. But he said the future significance of the meeting could not be overstated.“It will certainly forge relations within Orthodoxy: We still don’t have contact with a lot of Orthodox patriarchs, and this meeting could help develop intra-Orthodox relations,” he said. “Improved understanding between Rome and Moscow will certainly have positive effects on the theological dialogue.”
For his part, Kirill, since taking the helm in 2009, has overseen closer ties between the church and Kremlin that critics dismiss as the de facto merging of the state and the church. Putin has openly courted the church, noting his mother baptized him in secret as a child, even allegedly keeping it from his father, a low-level Communist party member at the workshop level.
In a 2013 documentary, Putin said the baptism "affected me personally and our family." He has described the church as a vehicle for uniting the Russian people.
"In this sense, the meaning of the church goes beyond the boundaries of the Russian Federation, it helps us to establish good relations with the peoples of other countries, and especially the post-Soviet space, and, of course, the church is performing a very constructive, positive role here," Putin added.
The patriarch, who arrived in Cuba on a formal visit Thursday, also met with Cuban President Raul Castro on Friday. It was the fourth meeting between the pair, according to the Russian state-owned Tass news agency. Alexander Volkov, the patriarch’s spokesman, said relations between the two men has been "long and good."
Castro also greeted the Pope Friday on the tarmac at the airport.
CONTRIBUTING: Associated Press
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