Francis: Pope will meet Russian Orthodox patriarch on stopover in Cuba.
Francis’ efforts at reconciliation lead to historic talks.
— Pope Francis will make a surprise trip to Cuba on Feb. 12 for a historic meeting with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, the first meeting between a pope and the Russian patriarch since the eastern and western branches of Christianity split nearly 1,000 years ago, the Vatican announced Friday.
For Francis, the meet- ing is the result of delicate and sustained diplomacy, some of which began decades ago under Pope John Paul II. It is another important milestone in his efforts to reconcile the Roman Catholic Church with Eastern Orthodox churches.
The breakthrough also highlights Francis’ ties to Cuba, as President Raul Castro “was involved in organizing the meeting,” said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman.
Francis was already planning to travel to Mexico next Friday for a sixday visit. Now, his plane will stop at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, where the pope and Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, are expected to hold a private, two-hour meeting.
The two men will then release a joint declaration before Francis continues to Mexico City. Kirill was already scheduled to be in Cuba for an official visit.
The pace of reconciliation between Russia, the largest country in the world, and the Vatican, the smallest, has been swift. The two agreed to establish formal diplomatic relations only at the end of 2009, and President Vladimir Putin of Russia met Francis in June 2015 in what was seen as a break of Russia’s isolation from the West over the crisis in Ukraine.
Since the beginning of his papacy in 2013, Francis has worked to reconcile divisions in Christianity that trace to the Great Schism of 1054, which for- mally divided the Eastern and Western churches. Francis already has ties to other Orthodox leaders, especially with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, considered the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians.
But the Russian Orthodox Church has long resisted overtures from the Vatican. John Paul II tried but failed to arrange a meeting with its leaders, and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, also did not meet the patriarch.