Putin to meet Pope Francis in Rome: Ukraine and beyond

... Italy has the primary objective of reaffirming the relevance of Russian-Italian relations under the circumstances of the current Ukrainian crisis, as the Russian President himself firmly stressed in his Moscow meeting with Prime Minister Renzi in March and ... ... exaggerated. A positive atmosphere in relations between the Holy See and the Kremlin could favor Vatican’s steps towards the Russian Orthodox Church. It is obvious that both Russia and the Vatican have compelling reasons to manage a dialogue and understand ...