Russian Orthodox Patriarch withdraws from meeting with Pope
August 25, 2022
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CWN Editor's Note: Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill will not attend a September meeting in Kazakhstan: a conference that might have furnished the occasion for a “summit meeting” with Pope Francis.
The Russian prelate had been scheduled to attend the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. Because Pope Francis will be in attendance, speculation had arisen that the Pope and the Patriarch would arrange a one-on-one session.
However, Metropolitan Anthony, the chief foreign-relations official of the Moscow patriarchate, has now announced that Patriarch Kirill will not travel to Kazakhstan for the conference. Russian Orthodox officials had previously indicated that a meeting with Pope Francis would require careful preparatory negotiations, and probably could not be arranged “on the sidelines” during another event.
Plans for a second meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill—who met in Cuba in 2016—had been under active discussion earlier this year. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which the Orthodox prelate has supported, dealt a serious setback to the discussions.
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