The newly appointed head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations met with Pope Francis.
Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, who was appointed in June visited the Vatican for the first time.
According to a brief statement by the Moscow Patriarchate, the “lengthy conversation” dealt with “current issues concerning relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.” So far, no further details of the meeting revealed by the Holy See.
The meeting raised hopes of a second encounter between the Pope and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. But the plans were abandoned following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.