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 ... ... Pope, that was largely unpredicted by most Western observers? Ukrainian Catholics are endeavoring to obtain support from the Vatican, which until now has referred to the conflict in Ukraine as a mere clash between Christians, never mentioning Russia as ...