Anahí Releases Song in Honor of Pope Francis’ Visit to Mexico

Pope Francis will meet Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in Cuba next week in a historic first meeting between the heads of the two largest Christian churches, the Vatican announced Friday.

The statement said the meeting “will mark an important stage in relations between the two churches”.

Francis is given many books at his general audiences on Wednesdays but the Vatican rarely issues statements about them, so praise for Turkey in the context of the book was a sign that the Holy See way trying to find a solution to the impasse, a diplomatic source said.

Modern popes have met in the past with the ecumenical patriarchs of worldwide orthodoxy, who are based in Istanbul.

The National Catholic Reporter adds: “Both former popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI had tried to organize meetings with the Russian patriarchs of their eras, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, but had failed for a variety of reasons”.

Today’s meeting is the result of a long preparation, conducted with maximum confidentiality between representatives of the Holy See and the Moscow Patriarchate.

In November 2014, Francis had said he had told Kirill: “I’ll go wherever you want”.

It will take place on February 12 in Cuba, as the Pope heads for Mexico, he said Friday.

“In this tragic situation, we need to put aside internal disagreements and pool efforts to save Christianity in the regions where it is subject to most severe persecution”, Illarion said.

About 75 percent of Russia’s 144 million people call themselves Russian Orthodox, according to the latest polls, although only a fraction of them say they are observant.

Thomson ReutersPope Francis holds a skullcap given to him by a faithful as he arrives to lead the weekly audience in Saint Peter’s Square at the VaticanISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey returned its ambassador to the Vatican on Thursday, almost 10 months after withdrawing him in protest against Pope Francis’ description of the century-old massacres of Christian Armenians as genocide.