RF Ambassador to Vatican: A meeting of Pat Kirill and Pope being prepared

A new meeting between Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill and Pope Francis is likely to take place in June or July, Russian Ambassador to the Holy See Alexander Avdeev said on Friday at an Italian Russian seminar organized by the Conoscere Eurasia Association, reports RIA Novosti.

"The second meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill is currently being prepared. It will most likely be in June-July. The meeting place has not yet been chosen, but as far as I know, there is a good principle for choosing a place: to meet where they suffer, where Christians suffer, first of all," Avdeev said during a seminar in Genoa.

Russian Ambassador to the Vatican expressed confidence that the new meeting of the heads of the ROC and RCC will be interesting and important not only from the viewpoint of international relations but also inter-church relations.

The head of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk, in a commentary to the agency, noted that the Russian Orthodox Church can neither confirm nor refute the information voiced by the ambassador.
"We can neither confirm nor refute. The date and place of the meeting are still being agreed upon," the Russian hierarch said.

As reported, according to the Pope, the meeting with Patriarch Kirill is being discussed and will take place soon.

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