Joint Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill

The Russian Orthodox Church on Sept. 14 cut "diplomatic ties" with Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, accusing him of encroaching on its religious territory in Ukraine.    

Patriarch Kirill of the Orthodox Church of Moscow visited Bartholomew I, the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church based in Istanbul, on Aug. 31 in an eleventh hour bid to prevent the Ukrainian church from being separated from Moscow.

Pope Francis is ready for dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church and Patriarch of Moscow and all the eastern cyrilllic. This statement was made by the Pontiff during a meeting with Metropolitan Ilarion Volokamski and other representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church during a meeting with the head of the External Church Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriach Kirill called for restoring Christian unity and preserving the traditions of Christianity in a historic meeting held in Cuba on Friday.

This was the first meeting between a pope and the head of the Russian church since the Great Schism of 1054, which resulted in the split of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.

Pope Francis headed to Cuba on Feb. 12 looking to heal a 1,000-year-old rift in Christianity before embarking on a tour of Mexico dominated by modern day problems of drug-related violence and migration.

Russian Patriarch Kirill and the head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Francis will meet next week in Cuba. This will be their first, historic meeting.

It will be an unprecedented event and a huge step towards repairing relations between the two churches after almost a thousand years.

Pope Francis on Nov. 30 issued a strong pledge of support for the embattled Christians of the Middle East and urged an end to the millenium-old schism between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, as he wrapped up his first visit to Turkey.
      
The trip of the pope to Istanbul has been marked by attempts to reach out both to Muslims and other Christian confessions.

Pope Francis wrapped up his three-day visit to Turkey on Nov. 30 with a liturgy alongside the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians and a meeting with young refugees who have fled Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones.     

Pope Francis will be visiting Turkey this weekend. This will be his sixth trip outside of Italy after he became pope in 2013. The fact that Turkey ranks among the first countries that Pope Francis is visiting already tells us a lot.

But let’s ask simply: Why is he coming?