According to RIA news agency, Pope Francis and the head of the Russian Orthodox church, who supports the Ukrainian war, will not meet when both men attend a gathering of religious leaders in Kazakhstan next month.
Francis, who will be in Kazakhstan from September 13 to 15 to attend the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, has stated in several recent interviews that he hopes to meet with Patriarch Kirill.
Bishop Anthony, the Russian church’s second most powerful bishop, told RIA that the two religious leaders would not meet on the sidelines.
“It (a meeting) must be treated as a separate event because of its significance,” said Anthony, who met with Francis in early August. Francis previously met Kirill in Cuba in 2016.
Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has enthusiastically supported the Ukrainian invasion.
In June, Francis implied that Russia was engaging in “armed conquest, expansionism, and imperialism” in Ukraine.
Source: Inquirer
