On Friday, on the same day of his release from the hospital, Pope Francis met with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Antonij.
The Russian Orthodox Church reported that on June 16, a meeting was held in the Vatican between Pope Francis and Metropolitan Antonij of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for Foreign Church Relations.
The statement stated that “at the end of the meeting, they exchanged commemorative gifts.” The Metropolitan of Volokolamsk conveyed to the Pontiff “greetings and wishes for a speedy recovery” from “His Holiness of him Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia.”
In 2016, Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all of Russia staged an unprecedented meeting in Havana. They were scheduled to meet again last summer in Jerusalem, but that visit was canceled by the Vatican due to tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
This is the second visit by Kirill’s representative to the Vatican following his June 2022 appointment as successor to Metropolitan Hilarion. Pope Francis greeted the new Russian Orthodox Metropolitan at the end of the General Audience on Wednesday, May 3 in St. Peter’s Square.
On Thursday, June 15 of last year, the metropolitan visited the Vatican, according to the Orthodox Times newspaper. The next day, he met with the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. “Both leaders discussed various issues related to bilateral relations between the two churches in a cordial atmosphere.”
During the meeting, the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church conveyed the greetings of Patriarch Kirill to the Cardinal, and the latter recalled his “previous meeting” with the Primate of the Orthodox Church during a visit to Russia from August 20 to 24, 2017. , when the possibility of a visit by the Pope to Moscow was being explored.
It should be remembered that the Holy Father revealed that a “mission” was underway to try to end the war in Ukraine. The initiative was mentioned by the Pontiff himself during his return flight from Hungary on April 30.
Subsequently, Cardinal Parolin revealed in statements to the Italian press that there was a mission, but that it was up to Pope Francis when to speak publicly about it.
On May 20, the Vatican reported that the Pope had entrusted Cardinal Matteo Zuppi with the task of leading that mission. The Italian cardinal visited Kyiv on June 5 and 6. He also met with the Ukrainian civil authorities, in particular with President Volodimir Zelensky.
The Vatican statement of June 6 indicated that “the results of such colloquia” as well as “the direct experience of the atrocious suffering of the Ukrainian people because of the ongoing war will be brought to the attention of the Holy Father.”
On more than one occasion, Pope Francis has expressed his great concern for the “martyred” Ukrainian people, who have suffered the invasion and attacks by the Russian army for 16 months.