CWNews.com - Russian President Dmitri Medvedev is expected to focus discussion on international affairs during his February 17 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. But the visit—the first between a Pontiff and a Russian leader since the establishment of full diplomatic relations in December 2009—is also likely to include some discussion of prospects for ecumenical relations between the Vatican and the Moscow Patriarchate. In Moscow, in Orthodox official says that the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Kirill is “more realistic than it was a few years ago.” The Russian official cited an increase in the number and warmth of ecumenical contacts.
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