Pope Francis expects to have a meeting with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in Kazakhstan in September, La Stampa quoted the Bishop of Rome as saying on Tuesday.
“I was supposed to meet him on June 14 in Jerusalem, to talk about our affairs,” but a decision was made “by mutual agreement” to postpone the meeting to a later date over the conflict in Ukraine, “so that our dialogue was not misunderstood,” the head of the Catholic Church said.
“I hope to meet him <…> in Kazakhstan in September. I hope I can greet him and talk a little with him as a pastor,” the Italian newspaper quoted Francis as saying.
During an online meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on March 16, as the Pope said earlier, he called on spiritual leaders to “strive for peace and seek a ceasefire.”
Back in April, the Bishop of Rome confirmed his participation in a meeting of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions to be held in Nur-Sultan on September 14-15.
The Vatican has not yet officially announced the Pope’s visit to Kazakhstan. Francis has postponed his trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan slated for early July due to knee pain.
