Why Pope and Patriarch meeting matters in Moscow

The meeting is a new and significant step towards the improvement of religious links and will have a positive impact on only on relations between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches, but also will favor peace in the world.

Kirill, 69, was greeted by Cuba’s communist President Raul Castro at Havana airport, where the Russian church leader was due to meet with Francis on Friday, AFP reporters witnessed.

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The two men are set to speak about, among other things, the persecution Christians of all denominations are facing at the moment in the Middle East and parts of Africa.

“The church agenda is not connected with the political agenda of any country in any way”, said Father Alexander Volkov.

The East-West Schism of 1054 isn’t over.

Kirill’s 11-day trip will also take him to Paraguay and Brazil.

Dominican Fr Hyacinthe Destivelle, who is in charge of relations with the Slavic Orthodox Churches at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will be in Havana for this unprecedented encounter.

“The two Churches clearly understood that all threats and challenges in the world threaten both of them and cooperation has to be stepped up to fight nationalism and terrorism”, he told Reuters. After the fall of communism, Eastern Rite Catholics took back many church properties, mostly in western Ukraine.

It is Kirill’s fourth visit to Russia’s Cold War Latin American ally Cuba, but his first as patriarch, overall head of the powerful Russian Orthodox church.

With relations warming between the United States and Cuba, and tensions momentarily calming between Moscow and Washington as the former continues taking actions against the Islamic State, the meeting takes place at a vital point in time for all the nations and entities involved, including the U.S. as an important observer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is welcomed by bishop Georg Ganswein as he arrives for a private audience with Pope Francis, in Vatican City on June 10, 2015.