Pope Francis will receive Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 25 -- an encounter that could help mend strained relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church -- the Global Post website reports today (November 7, 2013).
Russian-Vatican relations have been fraught since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, with Moscow accusing the Roman Catholic Church of trying to poach believers from the Russian Orthodox Church -- a charge the Vatican denies.
But Putin is the first Kremlin leader since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to publicly profess religious faith -- to the Orthodox Church -- and has several times advocated ending the long feud between the two major Christian churches.
On his Vatican visit, Putin could invite Pope Francis to visit Russia, diplomats said.
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