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Pope to meet Putin before Vatican Ukraine meeting

06 June 2019 13:29 (UTC +04:00)

Pope Francis will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month, APA reports citing Associated Press.

The meeting comes a day before Catholic leaders from Ukraine meet at the Vatican to discuss the fallout from the schism between the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches.

The Vatican confirmed the July 4 audience Thursday. It will be the third time Francis and Putin have met.

Last month, the Vatican announced that Francis had invited the leadership of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church, a minority church loyal to the pope, for meetings July 5-6. The aim, it said, was to lend support “in the delicate situation in which Ukraine finds itself.”