(ANSA-AP) - VATICAN CITY, 06 GIU - Pope Francis will meet
with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month. The meeting
comes a day before Catholic leaders from Ukraine meet at the
Vatican to discuss the fallout from the schism between the
Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches.
The Vatican confirmed the July 4 audience Thursday. It will
be the third time Francis and Putin have met.
Last month, the Vatican announced that Francis had invited
the leadership of Ukraine's Greek Catholic Church, a minority
church loyal to the pope, for meetings July 5-6. The aim, it
said, was to lend support "in the delicate situation in which
Ukraine finds itself." Last year, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
formally split from the Russian Orthodox Church in a schism
recognized by the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox
Christians. (ANSA-AP).
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