NUR-SULTAN, September 14. /TASS/. Pope Francis has reiterated the need for a meeting with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All-Russia, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk told reporters.
"The Pope reiterated during our meetings (in the Vatican in August - TASS) that a meeting is necessary but we did not discuss the details, when and where it could take place. There is a possibility of a meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch but it should be carefully prepared. The most important thing is to achieve some results, there needs to be a message, a document, the way it was at their first meeting in Havana," the Russian Orthodox Church official said on the sidelines of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Kazakhstan’s capital of Nur-Sultan.
"In this regard, we have kept in mind the first ever meeting between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis in Havana (in 2016 - TASS)," Metropolitan Antony went on to say. "A very substantive conversation was held there and a remarkable document was adopted, so profound that since then, we have been organizing annual meetings in various parts of the world in order to discuss the importance of that meeting and the message that His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis sent to the world. We do believe that if another meeting of this kind takes place in the future, it should produce the same significant and meaningful results," he added.
A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church held a meeting with the pontiff during the Nur-Sultan event. The Pope conveyed his greetings to Patriarch Kirill, and the Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations greeted him on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church head.