VATICAN CITY (AP) Pope Francis has met with the foreign minister of the Russian Orthodox Church ahead of a Nov. 25 visit to the Vatican by President Vladimir Putin.
The Vatican released no details of Tuesday's meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion, in Rome for a Catholic-Orthodox conference on family values.
Simultaneously in Moscow, a top Italian cardinal involved in Catholic-Orthodox dialogue, Cardinal Angelo Scola, met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.
While there was no word about any possible meeting between Kirill and Francis long-sought by the Vatican officials say it's likely Francis will meet the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, in Jerusalem in the first half of 2014.
