Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is to meet Pope Benedict XVI for the first time next week while on a political visit to Italy, the Kremlin disclosed today.
The presidential office said Medvedev would meet the Pope on December 3, the Interfax news agency reported. Former president Vladimir Putin met Benedict in the Vatican in March 2007.
Medvedev’s visit will come at a time when relations between the Russian Orthodox and Catholic Church have never been better, although tensions still remain.
Moscow has still to permit a Pope to visit Russia, arguing among other reasons that it was feared the pontiff would try to lure faithful away from the Russian church.
But Medvedev is reported to be committed to improving relations between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, and may even try to encourage an historic meeting between the Pope and the Russian Patriarch - probably on neutral territory - when he visits next week.
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