UNITED NATIONS, September 25. /TASS/. Pope Francis on Friday held a meeting with Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin, the Russian permanent mission’s spokesman Alexey Zaitsev said.

"Pope Francis and the Russian Federation’s Permanent Representative Vitaly Churkin as president of the Security Council held a meeting in the UN headquarters," Zaitsev said.

He said the meeting lasted about 5 minutes.

Before that, the pontiff spoke to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the presidents of the 69th and 70th sessions of the General Assembly, as well as spoke with a welcome address to the global organization’s staff.

Pope Francis will soon speak at the General Assembly before the opening of the UN summit, at which the global development agenda until 2030 will be approved.