Pope meeting Putin, could help mend Catholic-Orthodox relations

[rug]

By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY Thu Nov 7, 2013 10:06am EST

(Reuters) - Pope Francis will receive Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 25, an encounter that could help mend strained relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Russian-Vatican relations have been fraught since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, with Moscow accusing the Roman Catholic Church of trying to poach believers from the Russian Orthodox Church, a charge the Vatican denies.

But Putin is the first Kremlin leader since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to publicly profess religious faith - to the Orthodox church - and has several times advocated ending the long feud between the two major Christian churches.

Putin and the pope will hold their first meeting on November 25, a Vatican spokesman said on Thursday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/07/us-pope-putin-idUSBRE9A60WC20131107

[Kingofalldems]

1. Shock the world and end the centuries old schism.

Would love to see that.