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22 April 2022, 14:17Meeting between Patriarch Kirill, Pope Francis postponed due to events of recent months - Russian Church
Moscow, April 22, Interfax - The meeting between Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Francis, which presumably could have been held this coming summer, has been postponed due to problems caused by the international events of the past few months, head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion said.
"The events of the past two months necessitated adjustments to the plans and postponement of the meeting," Metropolitan Hilarion told reporters on Friday.
"Too many problems would now arise during its preparations" in terms of security, logistics, coverage of the meeting in the public space, he said. "We will wait for a better time for this event," the metropolitan said.
"The agreement to hold the meeting in 2022 was reached in fall 2021," he said. "One of the possible venues of the meeting was the Middle East, to be more precise, Jerusalem, possibly in June. However, the date and place were never announced. Moreover, we have not even started considering the logistics of the meeting and its content," he said.
The recent talks between the pope and the patriarch, which took place by videoconference, were "very warm and goodhearted." "It helped them discuss the most acute issues, and we will leave the rest for the future," Metropolitan Hilarion said. |
