VATICAN CITY, February 5. /TASS/. Pope Francis wants to meet with Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, but in a peaceful environment, that is why any practical organization of such a meeting is out of the question now, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States within the Holy See's Secretariat of State, told TASS on Sunday.

The Pope wants to meet with Kirill not amid the war, so that nothing could divert them from religious matter. So far, it is out of the question, he said, adding that dialogue continues, including with Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations.

The Holy See’s foreign diplomacy chief noted that the recent meeting with the delegations of the All-Ukraine Council of Religions and Religious Organizations involving representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine had been held in aa positive atmosphere.

The first meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis took place in Havana in 2016. In December 2021, the Pope said that his second meeting with the Patriarch was being prepared. In the spring of 2022, he told the Corriere della Sera daily that the meeting was planned for June in Jerusalem but was postponed. The Russian Orthodox Church said back then that they were surprised by this "unilateral" decision, of which the Moscow Patriarchate learnt from the mass media.