Head of DECR MP meets with Pope Francis

Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, met with Pope Francis in the Vatican, reports RIA Novosti.

What the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church and the pontiff talked about is not reported.

“The conversation was held behind closed doors,” the news agency wrote.

The day before, on August 4, 2022, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk met in the Vatican with the Secretary of the Holy See for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. The interlocutors discussed issues of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the RCC.

Metropolitan Anthony arrived in Rome on an archpastoral visit on the affairs of the Administration of the ROC parishes in Italy.

As reported, Pope Francis, speaking about the war in Ukraine, urged the confronting sides "to stop and start negotiations".

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