Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, the head of “Third Vatican” could be meeting in the American tropics in what will be a surprise meeting that would probably stun the world. The pope will be in Mexico, and the Russian patriarch in Cuba. The both on visits to these countries in mid-February will pull a weight in history.
“Everyone knows that he is the pope of surprises. If he wants to make a change to his schedule, he will certainly do so.” Sandro Magister, an Italian journalist who writes for “L’espresso”.
A meeting between the pope and the patriarch of Moscow – who governs two thirds of the 200 million Orthodox in the world – has been talked about for years, or rather for decades. Each time imagining it on neutral ground, like Vienna or Budapest. But never before today has the meeting been seen as feasible in the near future, not even after the exit from the stage of a pontiff “impossible” for the Russians like the Polish John Paul II.
